


Nomad From the Valley・Nomad o'r Cwm

by For_Real_Son_the_Explorer



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Blood and Violence, F/M, Forced Pregnancy, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Rape/Non-con Elements, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:15:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 24
Words: 57,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/For_Real_Son_the_Explorer/pseuds/For_Real_Son_the_Explorer
Summary: When humanity steals everything you love, perhaps the way to enact justice is to go beyond. Eternal life may seem an attractive concept, but what can immortality truly offer? Love? Power? Venegance? Freedom?
Relationships: Alec (Twilight)/Original Female Character(s), Aro (Twilight)/Original Female Character(s), Aro/Sulpicia (Twilight), Athenodora/Caius (Twilight), Caius (Twilight)/Original Female Character(s), Marcus (Twilight)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1 - 378AD

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this fic on fanfiction dot net under the name 'For-Real-Son-the-Explorer' and it's currently ahead of my publications on here, so if you want to read more, I recommend reading on there (but I'll eventually upload everything here too so don't worry).

*I don't own anything in the Twilight universe, only my OCs and drunk ideas. Please don't repost any of my works*

My family raised me in a small forest village in the Welsh countryside, nestled in the cradle of the valleys. They named me Luíseach (pron. Lee-sha-h, the h is like the 'ch' in loch) in honour of the Celtic god Lugh. However, being Celtic and living in Roman Britain brought its fair share of troubles, as much as we managed to get by.

We faced frequent raids by them, demanding a share of our food. The deities blessed our clan's village with fruitful harvests ever since our last king sacrificed himself for us, but this brought us in turn a lot of unwanted attention from the Romans.

Because my father was a Druid, he taught me the knowledge gained by our forefathers, wanting me to become a Banduri (female Druid). Within our society, women had a plethora of opportunities. The Romans wished to change that. Quite frequently the invaders kidnapped a young woman whom they took a fancy to. That's why my mother encouraged me to disguise myself as an elder whenever a threat was imminent.

I'd been lucky to inherit my father's long black silky hair which my mother loved to plait (braid) in a crown around my head and she often decorated her masterpiece with seasonal flowers. Snowdrops in winter, lilacs in spring, cornflower in summer and blue chrysanthemums in autumn. Her eye for colours helped enhance my blue irises; the feature I prized the most. For the beauty held in one's eyes could fade not even with age.

I was initiated as a Banduri when I turned fifteen and began my new life as a wise woman, studying the land and the sky, and healing those who were in need.

Three years passed and our small clan remained as strong as we could. The Romans still occasionally invaded, bringing with them propaganda against us. They were teaching their children that we were evil magicians who would go into murderous killing sprees when threatened with an enemy.

In reality, whilst we dabbled in the occasional sorcery, we never used it for unnecessary violence. Only when we needed it. For example, my colleagues often said that I had the gift of disguise because no one had seen through my theatrics as of yet. I was thankful for my ability to hide myself in plain sight when the Romans came, but wished I could prevent us from needing to do so in the first place.

In my free time, I enjoyed meandering through the forest alone, studying the wildlife. I'd become quite adept at tree climbing so I had taken to spying on birds' nests and trying to learn their songs. Fascinating how animals of a completely different mould were so similar to humans. They had their own languages, their own gestures, their own customs.

I was so interested in seeing if I could learn their words. Their beautiful whistles and songs sounded far more appealing than the harsh timbres of latin. Having picked up a lot of latin from the accounts of our ancestors as well as from the few interactions I'd had with invading parties, I'd gained a fair level of understanding of the language, no matter how spiteful of it I was.

The day was no different than any other. The midday sun filtered through the trees, flooding the forest with a pure green light which protected us against the crisp winter air as my mother and I traversed the woods on the search for herbs. Sounds of animals scurrying over leaves and birds rustling trees with their feathers composed the soundtrack of our expedition.

It was not long however, until the forest's equilibrium was torn down. The pandemonium of hooves upon the forest floor alerted us to the approaching army. We both looked at each other with concern, our seer had not predicted another invasion for months.

Rushing back home, we didn't manage to outrun the troupe. We arrived at a scene of panic. This was not a normal raid. The invaders were forcing the wooden doors off their hinges and dragging the house's inhabitants into the chaos or just murdering them on the spot.

There was no time for disguises now, we could not outrun their horses and we had very few weapons with which to retaliate, we could only try and kill enough of them to force them into a retreat. I pulled out the blade I had not so long ago been using to cut away the interfering vines of ivy and ran towards the scuffle.

The dusty street was already sodden with scarlet. Hoping it was the blood of my foes, I began to hopelessly stab and pray that I could pierce the joints of their armour. No matter how many times I felt the blade sink into roman flesh, I became aware of the stifling of the villagers' screams.

My blade snapped upon contact with the metal of a soldier's arm plate and I felt an unfamiliar hand yank me by the hair and throw me to the ground. Fuelled by adrenaline, I tried to stand again, but a kick to my ribs kept me on the floor.

Completely helpless now, winded by my injury, I watched in horror through desperate eyes as one soldier - the commander by the looks of his slightly more covering armour - plunged his sword relentlessly through the heart of my father.

My scream of anguish ripped through my throat. I watched through tears as my mother ran towards the man.

"QUAE EST MATER MEA! QUAE EST MATER MEA!" I yelled with what was left of my voice, the latin that I needed flying to the forefront of my mind.

"Oh, this little harlot can speak our language," one sneered. The commander looked at me curiously and ran through my mother with his sword, still looking directly at me. The hatred I felt in that moment was enough for me to ignore the pain of what must have been a broken rib. I lunged forwards at the man, teeth bared and death in my eyes, aiming for his sword, but I was held back by his underlings.

I must have looked exactly like the image of a Druid that the Romans warned their children about at this moment. The commander spat in my eye, temporarily blinding me.  
"Witch," he hissed at me, disgusted. "We will take you with us to our town, if you are well behaved then we will let you live as a slave. If not, then I will kill you right here and now. You shall serve as an example of what happens to those who choose the savage way of life."

Ironic how they thought us the barbarians, yet we had never moved against their town. But they had just killed everyone from my village.

I complied, my will to live crushed, but my hunger for revenge kept me from moving against them. If I could only survive enough to kill them all, then I would be free.

Part of me knew that freedom would never be an option. Even if I was successful in enacting my revenge, I would never make it out of the town alive. I would never be able to live as free as my feathery friends. But death in the face of avenging the ones you love is better than death for the sake of death.

The journey to their settlement was not long. They lived a couple of hours ride from my former home. I spent my time studying their voices and what I could see of their faces. Especially that of the commander. None of them looked in any way guilty of what they had done.

My revenge was justified.


	2. Chapter 2 - Ownership

The commander decided to send me home with one of the soldiers, Justus, who had been part of the invading party. I was to become his wife's slave. She ordered me into the kitchens where I was to serve with the other female slaves.

Most were women who had been born into slavery and knew nothing of a free life. Although the Druids and Banduri were of a higher status in Celtic society, we did not treat our own as slaves. The Roman caste system encouraged nepotism and didn't offer many opportunities to work one's way to the top, even for those more skilled and intelligent than their overlords.

Coming from a small tribal settlement, perhaps my values were not compatible with such a huge society, but even I could see the injustice of the situation. But I decided to keep my mouth shut. If I were to gain the trust of my new masters, I would have to act like a good little brainwashed slave.

Every evening, after a feast, I would be ordered back to the villa of my masters, where I was to carry out the household chores and feed fruit to them. My master was an indifferent but thankfully merciful woman. She didn't care enough about the existence of slaves to punish them.

Her husband, however, was not so apathetic. It started off as small gestures; making contact with my hand for a little too long when I passed him something or walking close enough to brush my skin with his as we passed.

His lack of overt cruelty in these endeavours alarmed me. He was never violent, but he always made me aware of who was in charge. I decided to let my master know what her husband was doing, but she just scoffed and told me to go ahead, thinking that I should be grateful that this was happening. They had tried for years to conceive a child but had never managed. Consequently, the strain on their relationship caused them both to fall out of love with each other.

The first night was the worst. His silhouette stole into the dungeon in which they kept me as I was sleeping, my ankles shackled together to prevent my escape. He brought with him some wine and fruit, and even unlocked my chains.

He tried to bribe me with this forced kindness - letting me eat the same food as he could, even treating the injuries given to me by life as a slave and unchaining me as he violated me with his misplaced desires. No matter how much I tried to fight back, I was reminded of my greater need to infiltrate the inner circle of their society for my best chances of a life afterwards.

Against my better judgement, I played the part of the grateful slave, blessed with a chance from her master to live a better life than the others.

I had played my part well enough to earn myself certain privileges. I had proven myself trustworthy of sleeping without being chained and I was spared some fruit every now and again. If only I was not shackled still by the claws of revenge. If I were strong enough to let go, I could have fled, perhaps towards freedom, perhaps towards a darker fate.

Finding a certain unmonitored way out of the town, I was able to find my way back to some of my clan's shrines. The closest one was a forest grove - a perfect circle in the woods where no trees grew.

When I could, I brought prayers to the gods and threw many votive offerings in the lake, situated nearby to my clearing. The hope that my endeavours would be aided by the forces of nature and being near to places I associated with my family pushed me through every ordeal, every violation.

With the passing of each month, my plan began to take form. Justus's commander was organising a celebration for one of the Roman festivals and I was to serve in the kitchens. This was the perfect opportunity for me. Though I would have to be careful.

Poisoning the entire food supply was definitely an effective method, but would implicate the other slaves and make life for them a hundred times worse. I had to be a little more targeted in my approach. But coming up with a plan so selective would be a challenge.

Many a sleepless night I spent trying to think through all of the loopholes, to implicate only myself in this. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I should murder Justus at the festival and have my master raise the alarm. Once everyone was gathered in the one room, I would lock myself in with them and take down as many of them with me.

The chances of escape were almost nothing, however the thirst for revenge had consumed my thoughts so much that I had stopped caring whether or not I would ever live life as a free woman again.

Two nights before the big day, I lay awake in my dungeon room, my mind running through my plan again and again. I'd decided to masquerade myself as a fellow soldier during the attack. Anything to subvert their expectations and gain the upper hand.

Having already stolen the bigger part of a uniform from Justus, I was almost ready to go. I'd decided to sneak out tomorrow to visit my shrines for one last time, the final attempt to calm my nerves and probably the last time I would be able to be part of the outside world.

I couldn't sleep, not that it mattered anymore. I would have plenty of time to sleep once I'd been killed for my crimes.

Rain from the heavens dripped down through the grate at the top of the room which teased the existence of an outside world. The wind was whispering louder than usual tonight and I couldn't help but feel like it was carrying the words of those who cared. Maybe my parents were trying to tell me that it wasn't worth sacrificing such an obvious chance of running free for something so trivial as revenge.

If I were to just run away and forget about my revenge, what would be my purpose? Where could I go? How long would I last before I was captured by some other tribe or Roman town? Travelling alone in these times was very volatile indeed.

Deep down I knew that freedom was impossible now, even if I did manage to escape. At least that soothed and reassured my spirit enough to fall into a restless sleep. Revenge was my only option.

I was running down the seemingly endless stone corridors of the fortress, being chased by an army. I couldn't make out the pursuing figures, but I knew that if they became close enough to identify, it would be too late.

Rounding a corner, I ran straight into a brick wall. I whipped around to run back the other way but found that another wall had replaced the corridor from which I had come. How could a wall just spring up out of nowhere?

I placed my hand on the wall, trying to see if it was as solid as it looked. The stone was colder than ice and it felt like it was pulling me into it. It was now that I realised that my memories were being projected somehow upon the wall, as if I were watching through my own eyes.

I could not look away. Seeing my family's faces again as if they were right in front of me was an attractive concept. I stared greedily into the memories as they flashed in front of me. Just as soon as the images of my family had appeared, they were replaced with my point of view of the day they were slaughtered. I let out a scream which mirrored the one in my memory, but it was amplified as it bounced off the walls that were surrounding me.

Trying to yank my hand away from the wall, I realised that it had sunken into the wall completely up to my wrist and I could not wiggle it free. Every thought I'd ever had continued to play out in front of me, forcing me to relive the nights Justus had forced us to spend together.

My anger turned into a roar that was too animalistic to have come from me, but yet it did. I wanted the wall to let me go, let me go so I could run around the corner and charge at the army that was pursuing me and cut them all to shreds with my bare hands.

Managing to pull my hand free from the wall, I kicked it out of the way and it moved, letting me run past it. I charged as fast as being thrown from a catapult and knocked down all of the soldiers. Transforming into a bird, I flew away into the blue sky, into freedom.

Waking up with a start, I realised that I was shaking and sweating profusely. The hand that had been trapped in the cold stone wall in my dream was as icy as a corpse in comparison to my other one.

I'd probably just slept on it funny.

Realising that dawn had already broken, I got up and tried to calm myself down. No doubt, my emotions were in a mess because of tomorrow drawing closer. I definitely needed to sneak out today. There was no way I'd be able to keep my cool if I didn't visit the shrine, the forest was practically calling to me.

Heading upstairs, I was greeted by a stinking pile of bloody armour that Justus had left for me to wash. He must have returned from the mission in the middle of the night and not wanted to wake me.

Taking the armour, I headed to the river to wash them. I started to hum a tune under my breath as I washed to calm my still shaking hands. However, the booming voice of the commander made me jump, nearly dropping the chest plate into the river.

"Slacking off are you?" he barked at me. I shook my head.

"It'll be a miracle if that even comes off with how long you've left it dirty," he cackled and wandered off.

Finishing up my cleaning chores, I pretended to return the armour to its rightful place, but instead, smuggled it down to my dungeon and hid it below my blanket. My costume was complete.

With a sigh of relief, I grabbed a poultice I'd thrown together with herbs I'd taken from the kitchens and the little wooden carving of a raven I'd made and I took the opportunity to sneak out of the town.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Otherworld

The forest wasn't its usual self, whispers of wildlife permeating the air, instead, it was in unnatural serenity. As anyone who'd grown up knowing the ways of the forest would understand, this was a sign of a predator or natural disaster. Maybe my anxieties were so overwhelming I was forcing myself into this state of hysteria.

Despite this, I felt alive with the passion for revenge; knowing that once tomorrow ended, I'd be able to get past the anguish of my past and be moving on to my new future.

Powered on by this enthusiasm, I didn't realise that the deeper I walked into the forest; closer to my divine forest grove, the sounds of the animals became even more muted.

Marching forward into the clearing, relatively untouched by the sunlight of the late afternoon, I noticed three imposing figures. I froze in my tracks completely, not believing what I was seeing.

The three figures were all men, very pale and very appealing to the eye. I understood immediately from the stillness in which they stool that these men were the reason for the forest's silence.

Looking past their unnatural pallor, I noticed three pairs of red eyes. Although they all looked different enough, one was albino, another had hair the same colour as mine, if not darker and the other wore an expression I could only describe as mourning, I would have believed that they were related.

Never before had I seen anyone, or anything this unnaturally pale that wasn't dead. But the thing that concerned me the most was the presence that they occupied which made my skin crawl. For one, what would a group of what appeared to be three well-off and well-dressed individuals be doing a few miles from a Roman settlement just standing in a forest?

Something seemed so off, as if they were animals pretending to be human. As soon as the thought to turn and run the other way crept into my mind, the trio moved at an unimaginable speed to block every one of my easy escapes from the grove.

I'd heard stories of creatures from the otherworld who would try and tempt humans into their realm, the realm of souls. Maybe my fate to die during my revenge was so sealed in stone that they'd come to get me early. They were certainly as beautiful, if not more so, than the nymphs and faeries that we were warned not to make deals with. However, it was clear that their intention was not to let me go.

Knowing I was well and truly trapped, I tried to bargain for my life.

"I know you're not human," I began confidently, "what are you? If you're after humans to entice into the otherworld, I can lead you to the town - you'll have enough people to last an eternity," I pronounced as confidently as I could.

Of the two whose faces I could see, the youngest looking with the silver-coloured hair addressed me first with a smirk.

"I admire your keen eye, human, but it is only one we seek at the moment". So they were from the otherworld. I would have to be careful what deal I made with them to get out of this. The other monster with the raven hair who accompanied him smiled reassuringly.

"Worry not, my child, we wish to aid you in achieving your vengeance-"

"-at what cost?" I interrupted eagerly. They somehow knew of my plan, they must have been sent by the Morrigan; the goddess of war herself, to enact my justice for I had told no one of my desire for revenge.

The trio all looked at each other with some undisclosed understanding. The albino was the one who answered my question.

"We only ask that when you have your revenge," he paused slightly to look towards his shorter companion, "...that you come and work for us." Of course, my soul would be theirs afterwards.

"We can assure you that we can provide you with many opportunities to see the world, you won't be completely shackled to us," the black-haired one added, as if he'd anticipated my thought process.

"You still didn't answer my first question, if you're not human, what are you?" I said whilst trying to back away towards my only exit, slightly uneasy still about the energy they were emitting. Unfortunately, I was stopped. They all moved unnervingly fast again, the two darker haired men held my arms behind me in surprisingly strong grips. No matter how violently I struggled against them, I could not remove my arms from their grasps. I had nowhere to run.

The silver-haired one, still grinning, placed his hand on my chin with a more-than-firm grip and directed my head to the right and brushed my long dark hair behind my shoulder, exposing my neck to him. He whispered his next words directly into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

"That would be spoiling the surprise, wouldn't it," he chuckled, inhaling deeply as my heart thudded in my ears. "I think I might have to have a little taste before I turn you," he whispered sensually.

Before I could register his words, he attacked my neck with his teeth, instantly drawing blood. I struggled to regain my breath against his assault, but it was too late. His companions's hands kept me restrained, leaving me completely at his whim.

I could feel my blood gushing out of the wound. He drew enough blood to drink down in gulps, however, once my knees had succumbed to the lethargy of blood loss, he began to lick the wound he had created, as if the monster was trying to heal me after stealing my lifeforce. I felt the grip of the other two on my arms loosen as I collapsed. Several other piercing stings invaded my body as the monster sank his teeth into my skin again and again.

The last of my human memories involved me falling to the floor in the arms of my attacker as he aided my descent to the forest ground. My surroundings becoming a blur, I didn't notice them leave, I only recognised their absence in the presence of the pain.

I knew I had to find shelter before nightfall, otherwise I would be taken by the beasts of the forest. Despite the unbearable pain that emanated from my wounds throughout my body, I tried to focus on crawling to the tree hollow on the other side of the grove where I knew that I'd be safe from the nighttime forest.

The pain from the initial wound the monster created as he bit clean into my neck was nothing in comparison to the pain I was in now; now that the monster's poison was spreading through my body, even the hurt of losing my parents could not compare.

Each movement I made with my arms to crawl depleted my strength and seemed to make the pain spread further throughout my body. Becoming evermore weaker, I tried to push forwards, knowing I had but a small distance to cover.

As the sun finally disappeared from view, all of my limbs were on fire. I could no longer feel the smooth crinkling of the leaves below my body as the literal fire that seemed to be attacking my insides eradicated my ability to feel.

Despite the burning agony my body was in, seeing my end goal brought me the hope that if I made it there - safe from predators and the elements, I would be able to somehow overcome the pain eventually.

Drawing nearer and nearer and the sky becoming darker and darker, the sounds of the forest did not yet return - or maybe I had deafened myself with my own screams as I forced my body to move against the poison.

Upon the sky losing all colour, I finally arrived at the tree hollow. Curling up into the fetal position, I retrieved the poultice and little wooden raven from my satchel and placed them over my chest, whispering or screaming the words of our clan's shaman in an effort to heal myself.

Somehow in a state of relaxation, the pain dominated over my body even more than before. The burning I had felt during my expedition was nothing compared to the fire that ravaged my body now - alone and undistracted by anything else. I wanted to scream more but what good would it do? I tried to concentrate instead on external factors such as the chill of the wind as it caressed my face, trying to soothe me; the shiver of the trees in the darkening sky; the occasional but rare scampering of an animal darting through the undergrowth. All drawn towards the magical pull of the poultice. Anything that would take away the thought of this pain.

I managed to drift into some sort of tortured state of lucidity, passing in and out of consciousness every now and again, the fire waking me every time I managed to escape into unconsciousness. Sometimes it was daytime and sometimes night - sometimes I was alone and sometimes I'd see strange shadows standing watch over me. I'd lost my grip on time and reality completely.

The pain became a constant. It felt as if all of my bones were being broken over and over again whilst being burnt with the flames of the sun. Surely I must be dying. I would have believed so if it weren't for the ubiquity of the pain. This kind of pain could only be a sign of remaining in the mortal world.

I tried to focus on the brief conversation I'd had with my attackers, trying to find any clues as to what they'd done to me. They said they'd wanted to help me enact my revenge and for me to go and work with them… But why me and _how_ did they know about my plans for vengeance..?

And what exactly had they meant about "turning me"? Did that mean I was destined to become a creature of the otherworld too? Would I have to harvest the souls of weary travellers for them?

Soon after the pain reached an uncomfortable crescendo, it began to fizzle out of my fingers and toes. Now my senses weren't completely dampened by the agony, I was able to take in my surroundings more clearly...


	4. Chapter 4 - Leg Up

I never realised how sharp my hearing was - or what I thought it was. Every sound of the forest seemed to resonate in me, even the crawling of insects was audible.

Opening my eyes, I discovered that my sight seemed to have been somehow cured. I could see the smallest of details even on the farthest away tree. Funny, I don't remember a time when my sight was ever this good.

The most noticeable observation was the world of aromas that surrounded me. My beloved forest emanated a pleasant earthy and homely fragrance which consoled my wounded body. However, I noticed the scents of seven people who categorically did not belong in the forest. I know not how I could identify these smells as people, but my instincts were ushering me into that conclusion.

The waves of torture subsided even further and I tried to sit up and managed so without so much hint of a struggle. The seven strangers must have heard me as I heard them begin to approach my hideout.

In a panic, I found myself crouching defensively in the shadows below the tree hollow with my teeth bared, waiting for the strangers to arrive. When the intruders came into view, a monstrous hiss escaped from my mouth. They did not stop their approach, but they became a little more cautious.

I decided to use my heightened senses to investigate them, but as soon as I inhaled, the burning that remained still in my body all at once concentrated in my throat and I felt the sudden urge to bite and rip.

As soon as the thought popped into my head, I felt a strange pull towards the strangers and I wondered why I would even consider attacking these people. Now I knew that these strangers meant no harm to me and the burning in my throat was something I could deal with later.

I stood up to welcome the strangers. I recognised three of the faces as the men who had attacked me. Their expressions resembled smiles, but this time I felt no malice.  
"Fascinating, you were able to move a considerable distance despite the amount of venom I gave you," the blond was the first to say.

"Maybe you're losing your potency in your old age, Caius," the man with the raven hair chuckled. I had no idea what he meant by 'old age', the blond looked around about the same age as myself.

"Careful Aro, or I might have to tell my newborn friend here to attack you," Caius growled back. "Besides, she's obviously a tenacious one, surely you noticed that?" he paused. "Vito, what say you?" he added. Caius never took his eyes off me as he said this. His eyes bore into mine and I glared at him trying to make him shift his gaze.

"I'm definitely receiving a stronger pull now, congratulations Master," a short but well-built man who had originally been standing behind Caius said. Upon hearing this information, Caius's neutral face twisted into a devious smile and the look in his eyes became even more hungry. Hungry. That reminded me of the burning in my throat and I became restless against the pull of loyalty I felt towards the group; putting aside all desire I had to learn more about these people.

Noticing the more predatory gaze that must have adorned my eyes, Caius turned and grabbed a struggling person from the clutches of a giant of a man. The giant was just as pale, his eyes just as red as the others. This made me recognise what was different about the struggling man. His complexion was speckled with pink, and his eyes, green instead of red, were wide and full of fear.

Not only this, but as I inhaled to take in his scent, it reminded me so very much of fresh chicken broth - only not in similarity. In a way that made me understand that this man was food. And there was nothing more that I wanted now than food.

The pale strangers observed my reaction and instead of running away in fright, they all smiled this time.

Caius shoved the struggling man forward towards me. Without the restraint of his captors, the man broke into a run.

"Go ahead, tuck in, I shall explain everything to you once you're fed," the blond chuckled.

Upon hearing this declaration of permission, I was overtaken by my instincts. My body, propelled by the scorching dryness in my throat, peeled off after the running man. I couldn't believe how slowly he was running, almost like he wanted me to catch him.

With ease, I tackled the man to the ground, biting through his neck: the place from which the delicious scent seemed to be emanating. The liquid that smelt so good reminded me of the wine the Romans imported from the continent. A rare delicacy that I'd never truly been able to enjoy due to the circumstances of obtaining it. Though the taste of this liquid was leaps and bounds better than the wine and I drank without any moderation, noting how it satiated the dryness of my throat.

In only a minute or so, the liquid ran dry and I got up, disappointed, kicking the head of the man into the forest. Only then I realised what I'd done. I'd just murdered a man and drained him of his blood. What. Strangely enough, this fact did not bother me as much as it should have.

That's when I heard the approach of three of the remaining strangers. It was Caius, the giant and a lady with brunette curls. Each of them were immensely attractive, their skin completely blemish-free. And each of their crimson pairs of eyes were fixed on me. However, only Caius looked truly at ease as he still exuded his aura of authority over me. The other two looked apprehensive.

Once again, I felt another pull, guiding my loyalty to the three people and washing away the primal instincts that drove me to murder the poor man. I suspected it was something the lady with the curls was doing to ease my tension.

The blond inspected my face, I assume looking for any signs of anger.

"Good morning my celtic beauty, I trust you enjoyed your meal?" he inquired. I could do nothing but nod, the sound of the man's voice flowed like the morning tide after a storm. Its beautiful tone captivated me, but eluded to a harshness hiding beneath.

"I'm happy to hear that. My name is Caius, by the way. This is Charmion," he gestured to the woman, "and this is Constantinus," he gestured to the giant. Upon hearing this clearly Roman name, I let a vicious hiss escape my mouth again and Charmion and Constantinus backed off, the latter gently pulling back Caius too.

"Do not worry yourself, his loyalty lies not with the empire. May I ask your name?" he reassured.

"Luíseach" I answered suspiciously. Despite the strange sense of loyalty I had to the albino, I found it difficult to accept that he could be working with one of them, as they had stated I must.

"Well, Luíseach, I would like to explain to you exactly what you've turned into," he reassured. I said nothing in reply, still suspicious of the giant, resisting the urge to see him as an ally. "Don't worry about him," he nodded towards Constantinus, "he's just here to protect Charmion."

"Protect her from what?" I asked, already suspecting the answer.

"Ah, I take this as permission for me to explain, as the answer to your question is included in the explanation."

"Okay, Caius, go ahead," I conceded.

"Just promise to hear me out until the end, otherwise I will have to ask Constantinus to restrain you until you understand," he added.

"I understand," I huffed. It was only now that I noticed how different my own voice sounded. It somehow sounded smoother and warmer; more inviting and enigmatic, it seemed to carry on the wind with the same elegance as birdsong.

"Thank you, Luíseach," he said. "When we met last in the forest three days ago, I injected you with my venom."

Three days? Had that pain lasted only three days. At least this explained why I was so hungry that I devoured a person.

"I'm sure you will have noticed by now that your senses are much more powerful. Your range of sight has become stronger, your sense of smell can distinguish individuals, you can hear the distant conversations of the people in the town as well as the smallest of creatures, you can move at super speed and have super strength," he continued.

"I made you into a vampire. We are creatures, stronger than humans and gifted with eternal life, who feed on blood, as you have just so ferociously done," he gestured to the remains of the man I had killed, which were mangled into a meagre pile on the forest floor.

"Vampire…" I repeated, toying with the word. It seemed like the perfect word to describe such a monster, but I was sure I'd never heard the term before. Were these the creatures that our legends spoke about who tempted humans into the otherworld?

"Precisely," Caius grinned. "From now on, human food will taste disgusting to you. Your throat will burn until you quench your thirst with human blood. But let me warn you; you now have venom which will eventually paralyse your victims when you bite them. Leave them alive and they will become one of us, so it's always best to ensure your prey's heart stops beating before you leave them, otherwise you'll be responsible for the damage they do."

"So why didn't you kill me?" I asked immediately.

"Because as a vampire, you will have a special gift. You see, some among us possess certain additional talents. Charmion here for example, she can control the relationships between people. Right now, she's strengthening the relationship between you and us to make sure you don't try to kill us," Caius said seriously this time.

"Why would I want to kill you? You're not humans, and how did you know I'd have a gift? How can I find out what my gift is?" I couldn't stop the cascade of questions that fell from my mouth in my new silky voice.

"You're a newborn vampire right now, that's why. If it weren't for Charmeleon's power here, you'd feel so threatened by our outnumbering you, that you'd either flee or attack us. Newborn vampires are stronger than those of us who have been around for longer, you see. Human blood makes us stronger, so whilst your human blood remains inside you, you have an advantage in battle. You won't be able to control your thirst either when you're around humans, your only instinct will be to eat. But you must try and exercise some self-restraint to conceal our existence from the humans. I can teach you more about our laws after.

"I found you with the help of our other friend, Vito, who you met back in the clearing. He happens to be a tracker who can locate gifted individuals through the pull they exert on him. He hasn't felt a pull so strong as yours for centuries. Some vampires don't even exert a pull so strong, so for a human to do so was a very exciting prospect for me. As for finding out the nature of your gift, it's only a matter of time," Caius smiled coldly.

"You mentioned there was law amongst us? What did you mean by that?" I asked, surprised by how much information I was taking in with surprising ease.

"Yes, luckily for you, I am one of the three leaders of the organisation who enforces these laws. The main things you have to remember are: don't expose the existence of our species to the humans, don't be conspicuous in your hunting and take responsibility for any vampires you create, which means you shall be punished equally for any breaches to the law."

"However, we are willing to make an exception for your case. We will allow you to enact your revenge, on the one condition that the whole settlement is… disposed of," he grinned maliciously, the bloodlust more apparent in his eyes now.

"I take it you have someone who can read minds too, for not a soul knows about my plans for revenge," I said sarcastically, not really expecting it to be taken seriously.

"Precisely," his grin became larger. Was anything possible?

I took a moment to process this new information. They had kept their word, so far, that they were going to help me enact my revenge. With these new abilities, I'd be able to take down my targets before they even saw me coming. Plus, there was a chance that I'd have an ability like mind reading or tracking. This was a gift I surely was not worthy of. But it was a way to fight back against the cruel world that had cost me all those whom I loved.

"And all you want in return is that I come and work for you?"

"Precisely," Caius smiled again.

"Deal," I agreed, now that I was a creature of the otherworld, making deals with them would surely not harm me. I started noticing the burning in my throat emerge again.

As soon as I'd given my acceptance, Caius appeared next to me in a flash and began to lead us back towards the others. All the hard feelings I'd had towards the giant bodyguard now were dissipated. We were now working on the same side.

If I was a vampire now, surely that meant that I had the same unnerving appearance. I veered off towards the lake I knew was nearby to take a look at my reflection. Surprised by my sudden change in course, the trio followed closely after me.

Luckily, it wasn't far. I peered at the lady in the lake. Her sleek hip-length black hair framed a completely white face - more balanced and beautiful than the face I remembered looking upon before. The thing that made my unbeating heart sink were the glowing red eyes staring back up at me. I rather liked my icy blue human eyes and I was disappointed to see them gone, especially as they were the one thing that reminded me of my mother.

I blinked out of habit and almost like my body had willed the thought into existence, the ruby irises were replaced by a more sparkly version of the human eyes I knew and loved. Taken aback, I jumped, causing Charmion to jump back and Constantinus to move in front of Caius defensively.

"What's the matter Luíseach?" Caius growled.

I turned to look at him, but I could see only half of him behind the towering figure of Constantinus. "Nothing… I thought I saw-"

"Her eyes, Master!" Constantinus enthused. So it wasn't just me.

Caius stepped forwards and despite the warnings of Constantinus, placed both hands on my cheeks and closely inspected my face - the grin reappearing on his face as he did so.  
"Fascinating," he purred, "how did you do that?"

"I'm not sure, I was thinking how much I missed my human-coloured eyes and I blinked and they'd changed colour," I stuttered.

"Could you try changing your hair colour?" Charmion suggested. But I didn't want to change my hair colour. I shook my head.

"Hmm, not to worry my darling, you've an eternity to develop your skills," Caius whispered, "come, let us regroup." He placed an arm around my waist, to undoubtedly stop me from running off again and we were off, speeding as if flying through the forest. I wondered briefly what it would be like to fly, but that thought was overtaken by those of wonder at the minutiae I observed as we traversed the trees.

Despite the speed at which we were running, I had never seen my second home exactly like this before now. Perhaps it was the amazement of experiencing the world through these new eyes that put me at ease about the whole killing people thing, but was I really any less cruel and unwilling to forfeit the lives of others for my own gain before I awoke?  
There may have been a time before I had accustomed to the unforgiving nature of the world that I would have answered differently, but the cruelty of others had planted the seeds of its kind within me. Caius's venom was in a sense just the same thing. However, now I had reason to be cruel to humans. I was now a being higher in the food chain; it was only natural.


	5. Chapter 5 - Repentance

Once we had returned to the others, Caius quickly introduced them to me. The black haired man called Aro was the leader of their organisation, the Volturi, and the man who still looked like he'd rather be anywhere else called Marcus was alongside Caius one of the two other Volturi leaders. The third vampire was the gifted tracker named Vito.

After the pleasantries, Caius and Aro began to converse very quickly and quietly in a language I did not understand, but I leant my ear towards them anyway, curious as to what they were discussing. Instinctively, I placed my hand upon the blond's, which was still around my waist and their unknown words flowed suddenly into my mind becoming clearer, as if their meanings were being directly sewn to words that I already understood.

"...no idea to what extent she can change her appearance, but I've hit the jackpot with this one Aro," Caius hushed.

"I agree, though I do wonder whether it's a completely illusionary power and whether she actually physically changes her appearance at will," Aro replied.

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by "illusionary"?" I asked, noting that I was unable to extract the full meaning from the word. Caius and Aro both turned to me with expressions of shock.

"You can speak Greek?" Aro asked in astonishment, whilst Caius's eyes bore into mine intensely.

"Greek, no... I- I didn't understand what you were saying, but now I do, but I've never even spoken Greek before," I replied defensively. I'd barely even heard of Greece, let alone learnt of its language. All I knew was that it was another land conquered by the Romans. Their expressions of shock turned into those of intrigue.

"May I?" Aro inquired, holding out his hand. I wondered what an earth he was trying to achieve through this.

"He wants to read your thoughts, Luíseach, to understand how you did that," Caius clarified. I apprehensively took Aro's hand and after a moment, his face lit up.

"I believe we have here our own little chameleon, Caius," Aro said slowly, with an eccentric giggle.

"What's a chameleon?" I asked stupidly.

"It's a lizard that can blend into its surroundings," Caius explained.

"Yes, my dear, we thought at first that perhaps you were a shapeshifter, but unsure if the changes you make to yourself are truly physically happening to your body or are just perceived in the minds of those around you. Most vampiric powers tend to be mental or sensory rather than physical, you see. But it seems that there are more layers to your powers than meets the eye," Aro chuckled.

"But for now, come, everyone, we must help our new friend out here to enact her revenge," he addressed everyone now. "Would you care to explain to everyone your business in this town, hrysó mou (my dear/gold)."

"Of course, Aro," I thanked him, feeling some confidence return, "I wish to destroy the Roman scum that wiped out my parents and village took me as their slave. The only reason I didn't fight them then was so I could kill them from the inside. I learnt their language; learnt their customs and managed to earn myself certain favours with one of the soldiers. I was a day away from enacting my plan when I was found by you," I nodded towards the three Volturi leaders.

"How much help do you want from us, or would you rather do it alone?" Marcus asked, looking as if he'd rather not have to do anything at all.

"I want to take down all the soldiers myself, but you can have your pick of everyone else, try and leave the slaves if possible" I said.

"Well then, that's settled, you lead the charge and we'll clean up the rest of the town," Aro announced. Feeling the burning in my throat flare up once more, we took off towards the town.

My new speed most certainly provided an advantage. Even though there were seven of us, we moved quieter than just one human. I had a suspicion that they wouldn't leave the slaves alive, but the odds of success on my revenge had just gone from zero to a hundred which drove me forwards with a motivation that I was unfamiliar with.

I infiltrated the town as if nothing had changed whilst the others patrolled the perimeter to ensure no one escaped with the knowledge of our secret. Sneaking in the shadows, I approached the fortress, holding my breath (as per the advice of Caius).

I encountered guards stationed at the more secluded eastern entrance, but restrained myself. Without breathing in, the scent of their blood couldn't distract me. Though it was hard to ignore the pink glow that swam beneath the weak barrier of their skin. Trying to distract myself with the job at hand, I snapped their necks without drawing blood in an attempt to save my bloodlust for my true enemies.

Jumping through the door to the building, I used my new stealthy abilities to mask the sounds of my footsteps on the sand-covered stone floors. The scenery was the same as my dream, however there was nothing to run from now. Reaching out to touch the walls as I waltzed down the corridor, I felt that they weren't as solid as they had been in my sleep and the temperature matched my own skin.

Although I had been holding my breath to avoid being sent into a frenzy by the abundance of human blood nearby, I could hear that all of the high ranking soldiers were gathered for a meeting in the armouries. I knew my focus was only holding out because of the importance of doing this right.

I waited for the best time to strike, evaluating the possible exit routes. Only one way in and out. Fantastic. Swiftly taking them out from their blindspots, I eliminated the guards to the room in the same way as before and kicked open the door with a bang, causing every head in the room to shoot up to look in my direction. Without taking my eyes off the soldiers, I closed the door behind me, replacing the broken wooden barricade with another.

"Explain your trespass girl!" barked a familiar brutish looking man. The difference between the skin of the vampires and humans was obvious to me for the first time right now. Had I really turned into a monster so beautiful? And had I once looked as alive as these humans. The blood flowing beneath their skin tinting it a pleasant pink. My throat burned even stronger as the smell could not escape into the open air.

"Justus's whore! That witch, the one who ran away," another shouted.

"Get out, girl, OUT! You have NO right to be here!" another yelled.

Their commotion barely drowned out my raging thirst. I felt my control over my body weaken as I breathed in their scents. And then I pounced, biting, breaking bones, battering each soldier so they could not flee. As soon as the first drop of blood touched my lips, all grip on reality I had had earlier was gone and I understood the only reason for my earlier control was my desire for justice and vengeance.

The screams of the broken and bleeding soldiers seemed so far away. All that mattered was the sweet taste of their blood and how it flowed past my lips so naturally. Perhaps it was my final human wish that made it taste so much sweeter than that of the man in the forest, but I felt content with this new power that I possessed.

I left the commander until last. I'd snapped the bones in both arms and legs to keep him in place. He was the one who ordered the attack on my village, he's the one directly responsible. If the shards of bone had broken the skin, I wouldn't have had this moment of contemplation. Nearly full and the burning almost completely extinguished, I knew this would be my last meal of the day.

The smell of his fear was just as enjoyable as my meal. He'd just watched a lowly whore rip apart his comrades with just her teeth. Blood stained every inch of the armoury as well as myself and the bodies of all his colleagues lay lifeless and completely drained of their delectable lifeforce. He knew how inevitable his fate was. But I wanted him to know why.

"You probably don't remember the druid village you destroyed three years ago, do you?" I purred in my silky voice.

"Of course I don't," he spat, "what are you, demon!" he grunted through his shrieks of pain.

"Of course you don't care. But it's thanks to you I have the power to destroy you," I hissed and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him off the floor and throwing him across the room, wanting to cause as much pain to him as possible. He bowled over a collection of spears which grazed his useless limbs, drawing his blood. I lost control again, leaping upon him, tearing through his neck and spine until his head was barely hanging on. I savoured every drop of blood and now that my throat no longer felt the painful thirst, I was able to feel some closure to my human life.

Although my memories of my parents were blurry and faded - as if separated by the veil between worlds, I felt content in the fact that I had dealt judgement upon those who stole everything from me.

I emerged from the fortress to a scene of chaos. The other vampires had made a good start on destroying all evidence of our presence. Bodies, some full of blood and others, completely drained, lay scattered about the streets. There were only a few humans left, running panicked upon seeing the number of dead surrounding them and my figure covered completely in blood.

The other vampires were not as horrified to see my new paint job.

"Is it done?" Caius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," I said definitively.

After the last of the survivors had been dealt with, Aro began to torch the town, erasing all evidence of the events that had just occurred here.

About a dozen residents of the town had been spared, but only to serve as food for later. I felt guilty that none of my fellow slaves had managed to make it out and secretly hoped that some had managed to escape. But the thoroughness by which this operation was carried out made me think that these vampires were used to disposing of people like this. The part of me that was still attached to the human realm wished for their souls' safe return to the world of the living. Part of me was sickened by what they'd done to the innocents, but who was I to judge after what I had just done?

Once he was sure that there would be no evidence left behind, Aro ordered everyone to leave. Watching the dying embers of the burning town smoulder feebly, I tried to burn with it my feelings of guilt. For the destruction created here there was surely no repentance. But did a world which allowed such creatures as vampires to exist even require such things as remorse? Would I be able to get by just by feeding upon those who had done evil towards others? Who was I to judge who deserved to live or die?

I did not know to where we were heading, but it was no doubt towards a more fulfilling future than I ever could have hoped for.


	6. Chapter 6 - Flesh and Venom

My first few months in Volterra were tough to say the least. I had to fight back every instinct in order to control my thirst and feeding habits. The guard accompanied me on pretty much every hunting trip I made, to ensure I broke no rules. The temptation of living in the heart of the Roman empire was sometimes too much.

The most taxing thing was surprisingly not the thirst, that gradually became easier to control, but my training. Caius was ruthless even by vampire standards. He showed no mercy towards me even when my training fatigued me. He played the part of the over-ambitious parent perfectly. Because he was the one to sire me, he was adamant that I train my abilities to their limits in the quickest time possible.

Although I sympathised with his ambition and secretly wanted to do anything to please him, this was the only thing aside from thirst that put any sort of strain on my new and improved body. Plus I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing the annoyingly irresistible hold he had on me. The aroma of his skin hypnotised me, the unyielding gaze with which he looked upon me left me pleading to be let in. To say I had a crush would be an understatement.

I learnt shortly after my vengeance that my power could wear off after time. Before feeding, my eyes would sometimes turn black with hunger and after ceaseless training sessions with Caius, it was established that I could not maintain a disguise during a feeding frenzy no matter how hard I tried to focus.

Physical contact with an object I wished to imitate was almost always compulsory, especially with the language acquisition. So far, Caius had managed to get me to change my hair colour to his own silvery white and then back to my usual shining sable as well as make a not so perfect transformation into himself before snapping back to my usual body.

The feeling of a full body transformation was not comfortable in the slightest. Despite my newfound strength as a vampire, the feeling of bones being elongated and the body being completely remoulded felt so painful, it was second only to the transformation into a vampire itself. Aro saw this as a positive, as it meant that I was undergoing a truly physical transformation.

Tonight happened to mark the four month anniversary of me becoming a vampire and my thirst was at an all time best control-wise. As per usual, Caius trained me at nighttime in the mountains, a short run away from Volterra. We started the night with a hunt. At this point, just a couple of people were enough to satisfy my thirst, their blood boosting my strength and focus. I preferred hunting nearby as it almost ensured that my victims were Romans and therefore I could justify the killing a little easier.

"I want you to try transforming into me again," Caius said softly, but his demand was clear. "If you're successful the first time, I'll go easy on you the next time you fuck up."

"Okay, okay, I understand," I dismissed his tone, placing my hands upon his face, ready to try and make my life easier for the next while.

If I managed to turn into him, maybe he'd let me fight him one on one, payback for his harsh punishments. I secretly wanted to use it as a chance to get close to him without him understanding my true motivations. Looking into his eyes, I tried to unlock the secrets of what made Caius, him. His gaze was frustrating; unreadable yet perfectly predictable. He induced such passion in me yet he was so unnecessarily obnoxious. Feeling a familiar lurch in my stomach, I tried to keep my focus on his face and my determination to better him.

My bones burned within me, splintering as they grew and forcing my body to gain height. I kept my eyes upon his, trying not to let him see the pain I was in. After a few drawn out seconds, his expression changed from that of cold neutrality to satisfaction.

"Very good, it seems I have found a motivation that works for you, for now," he smirked, "now try and turn into Constantinus," he gestured with a nod of his head towards the giant bodyguard who supervised every training session to make sure I didn't use my newborn strength against my master.

"I'm not turning into him" I answered back. Bad idea. Caius grabbed me round the neck and growled into my ear.

"You will, or I'll rip your leg off this time, bitch, I don't care if you're pretending to be me."

I hissed at him, but knew when I was beaten. I'd already lost my right arm five times and my left twice since we began training thanks to my stubborness. Caius was a man of his word, he didn't just threaten a punishment for the sake of it, he followed through on everything he promised.

I said nothing as I approached Constantinus, still in the form of the blond. I placed my hands again on each of his cheeks and stared angrily into his eyes. The pain was more this time, no doubt because of the great physical difference between Caius and Constantinus.

Despite my efforts, the pain was too much and my appearance shifted back to my own to counter the pain.

"Shit," I gasped, collapsing to the floor. I waited for my punishment to come, but none did. I looked up and saw Caius standing next to me, his slender hand upon my shoulder.

"You did well, you nearly made the transformation, that's more than I could have asked for," he spoke uncharacteristically softly.

"You're not going to punish me for failing?"

"No, did I not say that I'd go easy on you next time you fucked up? I just wanted you to attempt it, and you got further in your first attempt to turn into Constantinus than you did on your first attempt to transform into me," he said, his tone now pleasant. "Give it one more try and I'll let you fight him," he whispered, grinning at me greedily.

I mentally prepared myself, focusing on the passion which seemed to be the key. If I succeeded, I'd be allowed to fight, full strength, to the death. I tried to out-stare Constantinus as I felt the familiar sinking in my stomach followed by the sharp splintering of my bones. Within seconds, I was as tall as the giant, my limbs now gangling and muscled. I immediately lunged for his throat, biting at what flesh I could.

My remaining newborn strength seemed to just about match his own. I managed to tear off his left arm as he tried to pull my mouth from his neck. However, he got his revenge as I felt his jaws sink into my thigh, ripping my leg from my body. I screamed with rage at his indecency and went for the kill, landing a fatal bite on his neck, pulling his head from his neck.

The next moment, I felt myself being lifted from him by Caius.

"Easy, easy, Luíseach, you can change back now," he shouted in my ear as I struggled against him. He chucked me my leg so I could unceremoniously reattach it.

"Dirty pervert," I muttered under my breath towards Constantinus who lay in three stupid pieces on the floor. My leg reattached, I shifted back to my own comfortable body.

"Well I've thought of the next thing we can test out," Caius proclaimed, trying to help Constantinus put himself back together. "The next time you speak with Aro, I want to try and turn into him. That wasn't just newborn strength then."

"Why, wouldn't that just get me killed?" I argued.

"I want to see whether you can emulate the power of those you impersonate," Caius said, seriously this time.

We returned to Volterra once Constantinus had put himself back together. The sun had almost risen by the time we arrived.

I decided to spend the day in the library. I'd already read the books on which the vampiric laws had been designed and had moved onto trying to understand the strange languages that some of the other, more ancient-looking books were written in. Although books were a reliable concrete source of copying a language, it was much harder than copying the language of a physical being. I had eventually worked my way through ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian, Anatolian, Sanskrit and Armenian with the help of the other vampires of the guard to gain a baseline of understanding. This was the side of my gift that I truly enjoyed developing as it didn't cause me any pain at all; if anything, it fed my curiosity.

Hoping that when I did finally manage to push my gifts to their limits, I'd be able to find some other way of spending time with Caius without being too clingy, I left the library in search of a distraction.


	7. Chapter 7 - Confrontations

The thing I enjoyed most now was music. Whilst I was still human, I loved to carry out my daily chores whilst singing some sort of tune. But I found now that my human memories had begun to fade, as distant as they already were. I tried every day to picture the faces of my family and remember the lullabies that my mother had sung to me.

Luckily in Volterra, I had access to a range of interesting instruments which helped me to refresh my memory. I often sang some of our clan's folk songs and pretended that the soft chords of the harp were the harmonies of my mother and village people. It helped to calm my appetite when I was becoming prematurely hungry and it helped distract me from my conflicted emotions towards Caius.

It was impossible to deny that I felt an attraction towards him, that much I'm sure bombarded Aro with desperate energy every time he read my thoughts, but I absolutely despised Caius's attitude. Until this point, my libido had been calmed by the fact that I knew he was already married.

However, thanks to my time enduring Justus, I had come to understand that marriage did not necessarily mean love. Maybe Caius and Athenodora had ended up together out of convenience and politics rather than true love. It struck me as the kind of move that Caius would pull, but I then rationalised my forbidden feelings. It seemed like a thing he would do, because it was a thing I wanted him to have done.

Distracted by my thoughts, my attention carried away on the adagio arpeggios of my hands gliding up and down the harp, I did not notice the object of my thoughts enter the room.

"You're taking to life as a vampire extraordinarily well, I must say," spoke Caius with a sneer. I ignored him and continued playing, punishing him for the grudge I held against his wrath. I wouldn't let him have the upper hand this easy, he'd have to really put in the effort if he wanted to redeem his self-indulgent violence. He came to sit next to me at the harp, never absolving me of his bloodthirsty gaze.

I stopped playing, caught off guard by his attempts at giving a compliment. "I don't get why you're cosying up to me now, Caius. You can't have it both ways, you either be my tough trainer or my friend, not both." My voice carved up the hypnotising atmosphere laid down by the harp's lament.

He paused to take in the information for a moment, his zealous irises never left my face, thinking about how best to respond to get the reaction he desired. Unexpectedly, he placed his hand upon mine, causing me to nearly flinch in shock. Standing my ground, I let him speak. "I understand your anger at me, my beauty, but what if I don't want to be either of those?"

"You're a married man, you shouldn't be saying that," I interrupted, feeling like I was being badly manipulated.

"That is true but why should I deny the truth of your beauty, you know I'm a man of my word," he replied with a smirk. I didn't play along with his narrative, already exhausted from trying to pretend I didn't have feelings for anything other than drinking blood.

"You should spend some more time with Athenodora instead of ripping me to pieces, maybe it'd help you get rid of some of that anger," I suggested. As much as I tried to control my jealousy towards his mate, I'm sure he could read it straight off my face. I hated the fact that I loved every threat he made to me as it meant his touch against my skin. He didn't have to hide behind a farce of kindness as Justus had done. His wrath was both his most attractive, but most frustrating characteristic. I savoured every moment he came into contact with me, every time I felt the burn of his venom as it mixed with mine, it was one of my biggest distractions during training. I tried to neutralise the feeling with the justification that we were all attractive in this form, but I could not get over the fact that to me, Caius was just that much more charismatic.

"Well she doesn't have the best vampire power I've seen in millenia," he purred, turning on all the charm. No doubt Aro had had some private words with him so I didn't assault him with lewd thoughts every day.

"Caius, stop… Take a break, spend some time with your wife, please, your sexual tension is getting me anxious," I tried to joke, but failed. He knew. And now he knew that I knew that he knew. The disappointment in my voice was plain to hear and I could feel myself seizing up in embarrassment.

His face was millimetres away from mine now. "Maybe I don't want to," he whispered so quietly that only my ears were privy. He tried to close the distance between our faces, but I stopped him, placing a finger upon his full lips. This had to be the most impressive feat of self-control I had pulled off my whole time as a vampire.

"Please, I know Aro told you how I feel, you don't have to make this any harder for me," I whispered back. He surprisingly respected my wishes, even though he knew he need only push back and I would be his. He quickly apologised and exited the room in a blur.

Sighing to myself, I moved over to the window, standing in the forbidden glow of the sunlight and letting its rays bounce off my skin. Maybe he wasn't such a heartless brute after all, I allowed myself to think. But he was willing to cheat on his wife - that was a big red flag. What if this was his idea of a joke? He was definitely cruel enough to do something like that...

I stared out of the window and absentmindedly started to birdwatch, projecting my thoughts onto them. A feisty little raven was hopping angrily in the direction of a larger one, trying to display its strength despite its size. I couldn't help but relate to this bird. Although I pretended to be uncaring and rational in his presence, I couldn't deny the persistent fondness I felt towards my creator. I definitely needed a break.

"You tell him, little bird," I hummed under my breath, continuing to watch the ravens' drama. My mind travelled back to the day I had awoken and how I wondered what it would be like to fly.

Without realising, I held out my hand in an attempt to attract the attention of the arguing feathery couple. Not that this would work, any animal with a brain would stay away from a monster like me.

However, the angry little raven flew down to the window sill and pecked suspiciously in my direction. I tried to not make any sudden movements. This was the first peaceful interaction I'd had with an animal since my transformation. Definitely something I missed from my human days.

I wanted to tell the little raven to stand her ground against the bigger one. But I could only convey this through my completely still body, not wanting to make any sudden movements to scare it.

The moment the little raven's beak closed around my finger, I felt a horrific lurch, as if my body was being squashed through the eye of a needle all in one go, all of my bones being compressed upon each other, unable to break, but just uncomfortably jolting here and there to accommodate their new shape. The next thing I knew, I had a beak instead of a mouth and feathery wings instead of arms. I stared into the surprised raven in front of me and tried to speak, but only a squawk came out.

The little raven squawked back, but I somehow understood what she was saying. Had I really just been able to turn into an animal? When I was human, I'd always had an affinity towards birds, but I never thought I'd be able to take the form of one.

This was surely a limitation to my power that neither Caius nor Aro had thought about. I decided to spread my wings and attempt to fly. Surprisingly, the ability came fairly naturally. I could feel the lift that the bird's wings produced helping me despite my lack of confidence.

I followed the little raven as she flew towards one of the towers. She perched on top of the turret and squawked at me. I understood.

Not sure if I wanted to see this, I knew where the raven had taken me. She had flown me to the tower in which lived the wives of Caius and Aro. Out of curiosity, I hopped onto the window ledge and looked in through the window.

I had never seen what Athenodora looked like. My heart sunk as I saw how bewitching her beauty was. Her hair was as light as mine was dark and she sat in a dream-like trance, her attention now directed at the little raven and me who had just appeared on her windowsill. How was I worthy of his affection when I'd known him for no more than half a year. Did I really think it possible that he could care for me more than his mate? More than someone he'd loved for millenia?

But was this what a happy marriage looked like? Was she really this content living a life of confinement?

I squawked at the raven, "is this what you wanted to show me?"

"Judge for yourself, monster," the raven squawked in reply.

"Thank you," I chriped, flying down from the window ledge, deciding I couldn't torture myself further. I flew down to the library window, the action seemed to become a little more natural now. However, I entered the window and crash-landed on the floor, a lot less gracefully than I'd intended, morphing back into my standard form.


	8. Chapter 8 - Strong Fate

I lay in shock on the library floor, still in a state of disbelief at the transformation I'd just made. The sound of someone approaching snapped me out of my daze and I jumped up from the floor just in time to see Aro come around the corner.

"Luíseach, hrysó mou, are you okay?," he asked, absentmindedly holding out his hand, his head still in the book he was reading. I declined, not quite ready to share this experience with anyone else just yet.

"Perfectly fine, just...um...escaping from Caius," I stuttered as calmly as I could.

"Surely his training sessions haven't become that unbearable, I thought you enjoyed them," Aro jested, looking up from his book. He didn't show any outward suspicion towards the open window I was standing next to, but his jab about Caius definitely got to me.

Thinking about him pained me still, and knowing that he had feelings for me, despite already having a mate, confused matters even more. At that moment, I made my decision.

"It's not that I don't enjoy training, I just think I'd do better if someone else trained me," I almost pleaded, hoping he'd catch my drift.

"But why ever would you want someone else to train you? It would be detrimental to your and Caius's...ahem...relationship," he replied.

"Then all the more reason," I confessed enthusiastically. Honestly speaking, I hoped to distance myself from my feelings in the hopes that whatever tension was between us could fizzle out. Aro raised an eyebrow and again held out his hand for me to take. I complied. It was quicker and easier to show him everything, maybe my newly discovered limits would pique his interest enough to take me on as his personal student.

"Touché Luíseach, that's quite some leverage indeed," he smiled, "of course I'll train you, we wouldn't want any accidents to happen. It would be such a shame to lose you to Caius's temper when you have so much potential," he smiled, reaching out to pat my shoulder supportively.

"I'll ask him to give you some space in light of your recent discovery, I want you completely focused on pushing your skills to their limits," he continued. Of course I could count on Aro's power-hungry tendencies to get what I wanted. Well, not exactly what I wanted, but it was better than incurring the chaos of home-wrecking a millennia-long marriage.

No longer clouded by my newborn thoughts of blood, blood and more blood and without the distraction of being trained by Caius, I barely noticed the next few centuries passing. Aro was effective in his teaching, but something about his tamer methods left me feeling never quite fulfilled in my abilities.

Whilst the pain of transformations into other vampires had become no more than a pin prick to the finger, mainly thanks to the comparison of cross-species shifting, Aro and I established pretty early on that I couldn't emulate the specific gift of that vampire, only the specific physical capabilities they possessed. For example, Constantinus's extra strength came thanks to his build, so shifting into him gave me this ability too, however, mental capabilities such as Aro's could not be emulated because my brain remained my own.

Centuries of training had now instilled me with the strength to transform without the need of physical contact. Of course, it was needed for the initial exchange, but after I'd changed into someone once, I could do it again. I'd got quite good at imitating scent too. Enough that I could probably fool someone not part of that vampire's coven, which was very helpful for recon missions.

Being part of the guard now, I was entrusted to follow tip-offs given by vampires who passed through the city. I'd often shift into a bird to travel as it was a little less conspicuous. Plus it tended to work well as a back up when facing a possible threat.

Many of those who had been part of the guard when I joined had moved on in one way or another. Vito had fallen victim to the Romanian coven. I couldn't help but feel some regret towards his loss, as it was thanks to him that the Volturi had found me in the first place. However, my unbeating heart was almost reanimated with joy when we lost Constantinus. We had never got on, due to our rocky start, but when Aro found out he'd been conspiring against the coven, the wrath he dealt him was more than I could have hoped for. I had not been happier since the fall of Rome. Old habits.

My gift came in a little too handy for espionage. Decades of ignoring each others' existence later, Caius and I treated each other as strangers most of the time. However, I had used my little gift for nefarious purposes more than once; a fact of which I was sure he was more than aware.

The first time, I did it out of curiosity; to see what I was missing out on. I was uncomfortable with the idea of being a peeping tom, but my attraction to him had not faded one bit all these years. For a brief moment, the passion of seeing his unobstructed physique cherishing the silhouette of his mate outweighed the guilt and shame the action brought me. I wished it was I that his lust was preoccupying. Sometimes I hoped so much that I convinced myself that I heard my name leaving his lips. Alas the shame would always force me to flee. But the desire would always entice me back.

Aro said nothing to me about this, as long as it was my way of dealing with my feelings, however morally questionable, it was not causing him any quarrel. He was more preoccupied with a new and dangerous trend that seemed to be sweeping the vampire world. Immortal children.

Incapable of controlling their thirst or recognising the pertinence of our laws, it was regrettable that we had to make the decision to dispose of these children. No one was happy about it, but to subject a child so small to the pain of vampire transformation was just as heartless as the act of putting it out of its misery.

The appeal was clear to see though, everyone at least once had thought about what it would be like to have a child. Especially when one has eternity awake. But to be forever frozen at an infantile stage of development was a curse in itself. I hoped one day that I might be able to control my thirst enough to raise an abandoned human child, but whenever a thought like this crossed my mind, I would push it aside. My role in the coven required me to be unobstructed by distractions or emotions.

Aro on the other hand had taken an interest in two young children from my homeland. According to the memory of a visiting nomad, they had already begun to display signs of strong psychic abilities at such a young age. Of course, Aro wanted them to join us as his research into vampire gifts suggested that these abilities would only become stronger with the addition of eternal life.

Impatient as ever, Aro had to stop himself from going to the British Isles to change them there and then, so as not to break his own rules against immortal children. Imagine his horror, when less than a decade later, the very same nomad came to tell Aro that the village had decided to burn the children as witches.

That was the first time I'd seen Aro more formidable than Caius. Everyone in the guard stayed silent as he quickly formulated a plan. Charmion, Constantinus's replacement Felix, our new tracker Carina, the other two largest members of the guard and I were whisked away immediately on this impromptu excursion.

The journey was tense to say the least. Aro refused to stop and eat despite us all being thirsty. He didn't want to risk losing the twins.

With the help of Carina, who could track places based on the mental image of it (she'd be boss at Geoguesser), we arrived in time to witness two small terrified faces obscured by a thick and nebulous smoke. Transporting as much water as possible from the nearby river, we managed to extinguish the fire before the two children were completely lost to it. Aro took care of the villagers and bit the two youths.

The boy looked as though he had evaded the worst of the inferno as he was pulled from the ashes choking on the fumes but still conscious. His sister on the other hand had been badly burnt and lay completely limp. Luckily the villagers' blood kept us all enough under control to resist finishing the fire's job.

Aro didn't want to risk moving the twins until they'd awoken, especially with the girl's fragile state. But after a day or so, it became apparent that his venom was doing its job, which calmed down his panic and put the rest of us at ease. Within just a day or two, we'd be able to take the twins back to Volterra.

Waiting out the time, we travelled in groups of two or three to scope out the area for possible hunting grounds for the children. There were plenty of small settlements nearby that would do the trick.

My homeland had changed a lot since I was last here. The country was now fractured into Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but luckily the Celtic lands had united under the Britons. The landscape was now dotted with churches, no doubt first introduced by the Roman empire. Organised religion was an odd addition to the green landscape. As a person who'd grown up worshipping the animism of nature above anything else, it was a concept that I didn't quite grasp.

Although I felt the pull of nostalgia to this place, I couldn't help but feel that it was no longer my home. That I'd outgrown it. Maybe it was because it brought me closer to my human life than anywhere else, but I felt as if a future here would only leave me empty. The era in which I lived was over. Everyone I knew, dead and buried.

I decided to speak to Aro, the eldest of us all here.

"How do you keep moving forwards, seeing everything change around you?" I asked him, as he stood watching over the twins, their injuries almost healed. Sharing my thoughts with him, a look of understanding and pity spread over his face.

"There's no way to ever truly avoid this feeling. I would say the best thing to do is to become involved in the change yourself, then it doesn't seem so polarising when you look back. But never forget who you once were. I believe that we are gifted with this memory of ours to ensure that our past never truly leaves us. So we can continue to learn whilst not having to immerse ourselves in our birth culture," he lamented.

"Take Caius for example," he continued and I held back the hiss that was about to escape at the mention of his name, "the only reason he and Athenodora have stayed so close all this time is that they are both from the same era. Deep down, it's that comfort we seek. But no one can outrun destiny forever. We must either move with it, or be lost to the past."

I didn't reply, choosing instead to digest his words. I guess I did try to hold onto anything I could from my human life. The songs. The memories. The customs. Maybe accepting that things were always destined to change was the first step. Maybe I'd be able to feel at home once more here if I did this. For the way of life I cherished died before I became like this. Whether or not I died a mortal death or lived for eternity, nothing I did could ever change the fact that our modest way of life was always destined to one day change.

Or maybe the way forward was to confront my feelings for Caius. To stop denying the force pulling us together. Vampires were certainly more instinctual than humans, surely this was an innate sense to push us onto the path that we needed to be on.

I was roused from my thoughts by the now erratic heartbeats of the twins - a sure sign that their transformation was nearly complete. Aro rounded up the rest of the guard and we stood a good distance away, unsure of what powers exactly they would display.


	9. Chapter 9 - Magnetism

Jane and Alec unnerved most of us - even as vampires. We had all been exposed to their powers at some point much to the joy of Aro, and suffered the terrifying scope of their abilities. They excelled much faster than I ever had. Perhaps because they'd already had some control over them in their human form.

Despite their initial unsettling nature, they weren't bad children. They were both quite polite and introverted and surprisingly spoke to even me with respect. As much as the language they spoke differed from my mother tongue, I listened intently to their experiences of growing up four centuries after me in the same country.

It pained me to hear that just because they possessed supernatural gifts, people feared them instead of embraced them. Had they grown up in my village during an older time for example, they would have been revered as great sorcerers and held positions of prestige instead of being burnt for their individuality.

Unfortunately, my tolerance of them made me the prime target of their powers. I wasn't against helping them learn, but they often left me feeling light headed until the next time I fed. Either way, I became proud of the power they possessed for beings so young.

They seemed to relish the positive attention, although they were wary of it at first. But it seemed even psychic twins were, deep down under the tough exteriors, normal teenagers and I started to feel some sort of stupid motherly bond towards them.

My encouragement of their abilities was second only to Aro's. He was beside himself with joy that he'd managed to recruit such a force to the Volturi. He was now certain that our coven would be able to take on our main rivals in Romania. Despite their numbers, we now possessed powers that could incapacitate multiple vampires at the same time - making our prospects of victory almost certain and making our coven the most powerful in the known world.

After a particularly gruelling day spent enduring Jane's pain, I decided to go for a fly to escape the confines of the town.

As I was heading towards the tower overlooking the north side, I found myself on a converging path with the person I least wanted to see with my head in this state. Something about the way he was making eye contact with me instead of us both staring straight through each other as if we didn't exist made me certain he was going to stop me when our paths crossed in the centre of the corridor.

I ignored his gaze, instead choosing to look towards the window at the end of the corridor to which I was drawing ever closer. The moment I waited for passed. As we crossed each other, I breathed in his scent and felt his hand grab my arm as he stopped me in my tracks, pulling my attention away from the window.

His grip on my arm was firm and he did not relinquish it even as I stopped gliding towards my goal, turning me to look directly into his flawless features which were glazed with an authority more potent than his usual expression.

"Luíseach," Caius pronounced my name in barely more than a growl, "I've been meaning to speak with you for a while. Would you care to accompany me on a hunting trip?" he continued, slightly more composed, but irritation seeped out through the cracks in his composure.

We had barely spoken to one another at all throughout these past five centuries after Aro's choice words, but Caius's poorly concealed intentions overrode every control I had in place. It seems that he too was not in the mood to be tested. The words that Aro had spoken to me during the whole twins debacle swum around in my head: "no one can outrun destiny forever"...

I found myself at the whim of Caius's request, for I could not run from it any longer either.

Trying to control the emotions that were surely present on my face, I gave him my answer.

"Of course, Caius, what did you want to discuss?" I said as if negotiating a business deal. The time had come for both of us to come to terms with our feelings.

"You'll find out," he growled, guiding me in his vice-like grip towards the window. We departed from the castle and headed to our former haunt in the mountains. I hadn't been out this way since we first trained together.

"You've got quite the willpower to put up with the twins, I'm impressed" he chuckled softly, breaking our silence.

"They're not as bad as you think, it's just the tough islander exterior," I teased, "I guess you wouldn't understand," I continued, with a sly chuckle, wanting to see how far I could push his already crumbling self-control.

"Is that so? You weren't even brought up on Sparta, cheeky little bitch," he teased me back.

"And what would being abandoned on a mountain at birth have to do with being able to withstand mental pain, knobhead?" I jested.

"I'm sure we can both put up with mental pain, Lui," he almost whispered now, the tone shifting immediately to tense. Luckily, we caught the trail of some people foolish enough to make camp this far out in the wilderness and we dined, throwing out our dispute for now.

Unmarred by hunger, the topic of conversation shifted to the thing we'd both been avoiding for so long.

"Well maybe if you weren't already married, it wouldn't be so complicated," I jabbed.

"Well maybe if you hadn't have run crying to Aro, we could've made something work all these years," he retorted through gritted teeth. This hurt. He knew how much I wanted him and vice versa. That was playing dirty. Two could play at that game.

"Well, maybe if you didn't pretend your wife was me, you wouldn't still feel this way about me," I shouted, remembering the times I could have sworn he whispered my name instead of Athenodora's.

"How the f-"

"-You don't know what my raven looks like by now? Hell, I thought you wanted me to watch in on your pornographic fantasies at this point," I laughed, my self-doubt erased by his confirming my suspicions.

He grabbed me by my throat and slammed me into a tree, causing its trunk to crack at a dangerous angle.

"What did you say, you little whore?" he spat.

"Only what I know to be true, pen pedyn (dickhead)," I replied just as ferociously, spitting my venom at him.

"Well why don't we see whose nerve holds out the longest?" he proposed, his eyes now black with hunger, despite the fact he'd just eaten.

"Be my guest, I'm not the one letting anyone down if I fail," I said, winking, knowing my own eyes were just as black with desire.

He growled and began to rip my clothing away from me, exposing my bare chest to him. He greedily began to nip at the pink peaks that had already formed; not taking his eyes off of mine the whole time. He worked his way upwards, biting at my neck, in the exact same places he had done to turn me. The waves of pleasure overcame my body and I nearly came right there and then, but I held myself back somehow, waiting until his lips met mine.

He forced his tongue past my lips, taking complete dominance over my mouth, despite my weak protests against him, my hands caressing his silvery locks as he pulled my hair. We continued to kiss as both of our hands moved southwards. He grabbed my behind and pulled me violently against him, grinding his hips against mine.

I let a moan escape from my lips as I felt his obvious arousal against my hips. I let my hands wander down until the point I was teasing him through his clothes, giggling at his out-of-control reaction as he thrust incessantly against my still-clothed sex. He growled and lifted me once again, only to dump me onto the forest floor, closely followed by himself.

He continued to grind into me, as I wrapped my legs around his waist, teasing me this time as we kissed each other with the passion of many centuries.

"Turn around," he breathed into my ear, and I obeyed. One hand on the back of my neck, the other squeezing my hip, he pushed my chest to the ground, holding me in place so that I arched my back up to him. He continued to grind his hips into mine from behind, making his intentions clear, but holding both of us back from our mutual goal, taking his time, savouring every moan that he extracted from my lips.

Unexpectedly, he ripped off my undergarments and drove himself into me completely unprepared, hissing at the sharp sensation. I screamed in surprise, pain and ecstasy, drowning out his moan of gratification. We had both anticipated this moment for centuries now, and the suppression of it had only led to it becoming more powerful when it did finally happen.

I felt every inch of him fill me, rearranging my insides to match his size. He didn't hold back, already knowing that I liked it rough, (no doubt due to the advice of Aro**). Although this was my first time doing this as a vampire, I had experienced it as a human, but only with those who cared more for their own pleasure than that of their partner.

"Harder!" I heard myself scream, and he obeyed, smacking my arse with a burning vigour every now and again and driving his teeth deep into the nape of my neck as he suffocated me with one of his hands. His venom mixed with mine causing an inferno as it spread deeper. He sped up his incessant pace, hitting the spot inside me that he knew would make me a slave to him, whilst occupying my most sensitive area with his long slender fingers.

He didn't relinquish his bite until his pace became too fast to concentrate on anything else. I couldn't suppress my feral screams any longer, setting them loose into the forest. I felt myself come undone, under his rule. My body became a quivering mess under his. I felt his cold sweat against my back as he collapsed upon me, finding his climax too, releasing his pent up ardour into me.

He flipped my spent body over and we continued to embrace, naked on the forest floor for a while, looking into each others' now crimson eyes.

"How long have you wanted to do that?" I breathed, tucking a strand of his silvery locks behind his ear.

"About five centuries," he answered, "have you really been watching me having relations with my own wife? You really are a cheeky pervert, you know."

"I can't deny that," I admitted, "but it was more to see whether you truly cared for me or not," I winked, lying through my teeth.

"And what do you conclude from that?" he asked.

"That you're a nasty two-timing bastard," I replied, sticking my tongue out.

"You're right there, but who's the whore who let me take her in the middle of the forest?" he murmured with a grin.

"In the middle of the forest that happens to be out of hearing range for everyone in Volterra?" I asked scathingly.

"Guilty," he chuckled, smiling cheekily.

"Looks as though we're even now," I jested.

"Definitely not, you owe me a century of this at least, for training with Aro instead of me," he joked.

"A century?!" I cried, "I deserve at least a millennium of punishment for that," I suggested.

**I didn't mean for this to sound so much like there was something going on between Luíseach and Aro, but just to calrify, vampire fantasies imprint themselves quite intensely upon one's memory


	10. Chapter 10 - The Fork in the Path

Throughout the next few months, Caius and I continued to go on our solitary hunting trips, rejecting all offers of companionship during these times. Most understood exactly what was going on, but did not dare bring it up in front of him.

Although it may have been down to spending less time with them, my tolerance of Jane's gift in particular became significantly greater. I no longer had to deal with the fuzzy headaches that usually followed the torture. Jane's power wasn't the only thing that seemed to have been tamed by my new positive outlook, unclouded by the realisation of my feelings. Caius seemed to be in better spirits, at least whilst I was around to witness.

Although our escapades were full of carnal violence, he treated me now as his equal. There was a clear boundary between our private life and everyday interactions. I no longer feared his authority, I instead embraced it, feeling completely at ease in his presence because I knew he would not let anything happen to me.

However much I tried to deny the depth of my emotions, I could not help but feel like I'd do the same for him. If anyone were to question his authority, I would happily rip them limb from limb and enjoy every moment. His presence brought about a fire in my soul that I had not felt since my newborn days.

My new passion was realised when a struggling vampire was brought before the kings to testify his innocence. Aro had confirmed with the human witnesses that the man was guilty of exposing his nature to a city of mortals in Burgundy; who'd been subsequently exterminated to erase any trace of the crime. However, he was granted the opportunity to explain himself before the council.

Unfortunately, he used his opportunity to spit on everything our organisation stood for, insulting each of the kings personally. I lost all composure when he dared speak ill of Caius. Faster than anyone else, I sprinted forwards and starting with his legs, ripping him limb from limb, biting his flesh into unfixably small pieces to ensure he paid for his shit-talking.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," Caius approached me afterwards, "I could have dealt with that scum for you, so you didn't have to taint yourself with his apostasy."

"I couldn't help it. There should be no sympathy for law breakers like that, who show no remorse," I answered, trying to hide my true motivations from him, though I knew it impossible.

Halting our stroll, Caius lifted a hand to tuck my hair behind my ears.

"You know, the new Luíseach is quite scary. You've become so... unpredictable. Even Aro is intimidated," he said, smiling at his last point.

"As if. I couldn't even scare a human at this point," I joked.

"I like it. You might not realise it, but you're more ruthless than ever - a true queen," he continued, staring into my eyes with another of his unreadable expressions.

"You really think so?" I stuttered smoothly. If I were still human, I would have definitely blushed. Caius had never been this sentimental. Did he really consider me royalty material?

"You're such a mystery, Luíseach, one minute you're a warrior queen, the next, you're a blushing teenager. I wish I could hear what was going on in that head of yours," he growled, a hint of frustration on his voice.

"I really didn't think that was much of a mystery," I whispered back, our faces now inches apart.

"Trust me, you definitely don't think like a normal vampire," he murmured, pulling me ever so closer to him.

"Then maybe I'm not a normal vampire," I chuckled, pulling him towards me, closing the distance between us. His kiss was more intense than usual, his hands yearningly pulling my body towards his as his claws made their marks upon my back.

As his hands found my waist, I felt the first compulsion, like a wave of nausea. Breaking our kiss instantly, I looked at Caius with fear in my eyes. I don't know from where this thought had come from but I felt the sudden urge to leave Volterra for good suffocate my thoughts.

Some part of me seemed to believe that if I stayed here, I would die. I would be killed. But I had not broken any law... Why should I need to fear death?

I looked at him nervous now, wondering if it was he who had caused this reaction within me.

"What's wrong?" he barked, concerned by my sudden change in behaviour.

"I'm not sure, I need to go and speak with Aro," I frowned, knowing that only he could interpret this compulsion. Hesitant at first, Caius accompanied me to go and see him.

I shared my thoughts with him and he too appeared confused. He assured me there was nothing to worry about; that I was not going to be put to death for a crime he knew I would not commit.

And so I tried to move forwards, ignoring the urges. When I was distracted by other things, everything was fine. However, the compulsion reared its ugly head during the quiet times of the day, when I had nothing else to occupy my mind. It quietly and quickly grew into a necessity, convincing me to leave. With horror, I imagined Caius looking me in the eye as he pulled off my head, all remorse absent from his gaze.

Although I understood well the ways of our kind by this point, I couldn't help but be shook by this possibility that I'd accidentally done something to violate some secret law I'd never been told about. The daydreams became such a ubiquity in my free time that I decided to consult with Aro again.

"I have no doubt that you would not willingly break any of our rules, Luíseach, but if you're truly feeling this kind of polarisation, I'd recommend that you take a break from service, as much as it pains me to say so," he confessed.

I'd hoped that he'd encourage me to stay, but Aro seemed just as concerned as I was at these compulsions. That meant that there was a high probability that I was in danger. Trying to rationalise my thoughts, I agreed with him.

"I think I'll take some time off, if that's what you'd recommend" I answered.

Taking up Aro's advice, I packed my things from within my chamber in the castle, however I was interrupted by Caius.

"Kardia mou (my heart), where are you going?" he demanded, not bothering to hide the betrayal in his voice.

"I'm not sure, but I'll be back soon, please don't worry about me," I tried to reassure him.

"There's something wrong I can feel it," he growled, grabbing my arms.

"Fy nghariad gwyn (my love), I'll be back in no time, I just need to take a break from everything, and then we can pick up where we left off," I promised, not wanting to miss out on our hunting trips.

"Can I at least show you how much I care for you before you go?" he almost begged this time.

"Okay, one last time, but I promise I won't be long, so you've nothing to worry about," I reassured, as he pressed his lips to mine, engulfing me with his lust. I felt the gravity in his kiss pulling me towards him like this was the last time we'd see each other, he didn't even care that we were on Volterra grounds and that every vampire within a five kilometre range would hear exactly what we were doing.

He pushed me to the wall of the room, trapping me with his arms either side of me, devouring my lips harder than he had before. His hands massaged my breasts with a longing that I wasn't used to. I returned his enthusiasm, tickling his body all the way down to his waist, teasing his V-line with my fingers.

Neither of us could hold ourselves back, he throttled me with one of his hands as his other hand grabbed my ass, squeezing it violently as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

His strength overwhelmed mine this time, as he forced me down onto the desk that stood in the corner of my room, his fangs nipping at the skin of my neck.

Before he could reach my chest, I placed my fingers to his lips, denying his full passion. He began to suck on them to my dismay, swirling his tongue around them, coating them with his venom, never taking his eyes off mine.

I freed him from his fabric-y restraints with my other hand. With a hiss, he lifted me from the desk and practically threw me to the ground, so that I knelt in front of him.

"Spit on it," he ordered, and I obeyed and then he grabbed a fistful of my hair and rammed himself into my mouth, making me choke on his size out of surprise.

Our gaze locked and I couldn't help but milk the situation. I rolled my eyes back into my head as I took more of him into my mouth, he tasted like the perfect balance of sweet and salty. He thrust harder into my mouth forcing me further down onto him, completely censoring my airway, not like that mattered. He kept thrusting against the back of my throat, determined to make me beg for relief. I didn't give in, digging my nails into his waist. I let him violate my throat until he ordered me to move.

Lifting me back onto the desk, he wrapped my legs around his shoulders, leaving me completely at his whim, completely vulnerable to his desires. Hissing slightly as he entered me, I welcomed his fury. He tried something different this time, letting one of his slender fingers scrutinise my backdoor entrance, doubling my pleasure. We embraced passionately and I bit him on his neck, savouring the taste of his essence.

He eventually finished inside of me, making sure I too found my enjoyment. We held our cuddle for hours, contemplating each other. I breathed in his scent which was so reminiscent of the seaside. I initially hadn't thought that we could be soulmates, purely vampires overcome with passion for one another, but I began to toy with the possibility of an eternity without him and it saddened me.

The next morning, I bade farewell to those I cared about the most: Jane and Alec, Carina and of course Caius.

I said a quick farewell to the senior members of the guard and then took my leave, running towards the sea, deciding to conceal my scent behind me. For some reason, I'd found it particularly difficult to shift recently. I could only seem to change very small details in my appearance, but I knew not why.

All I knew is I wished to head east, to try and take a break from my emotions and try to drown out these daydreams.


	11. Chapter 11 - Immortal

I surfaced in the Levant and moved north to the Caucasus mountains, but spent little time there despite its breathtaking scenery due to the generally good weather. Travelling further north, I followed rumours of a new and strong empire.

I discovered the newly established city of Moscow in the Kievan Rus' and of course, picking up the language was a piece of cake. However, I'd recently begun to notice my thirst spiking a lot more often than usual, so I tried to hunt outside of the city boundaries as much as possible, feeling vulnerable in the deprivation of my full arsenal of disguises. I didn't know what was happening, but it felt like I was becoming bloated, but that couldn't be so, as a vampire, I was surely immune to stuff like that. But I put it down to my recent overfeeding. I was eating almost twice a day, instead of the standard once or twice a week; my body count becoming almost unconcealable.

To my dismay, just a week later, I appeared undeniably pregnant. Horrified, I didn't know how this could even be possible. The only possible father could be Caius, which would mean that the child was a vampire. That explained the extremely hard property of my bump. I could feel the baby violently kicking against my skin, proving its strength. My mind was immediately drawn to the immortal children that we'd so recently started disposing of. But surely they were created when a vampire turned a human child. Surely if a baby was growing this rapidly within me, a vampire, with its father, also a vampire, it couldn't be a child frozen in time… Could we have been wrong about the origins of immortal children all this time?

I couldn't be sure, Aro's gift surely should have meant that there would be no gaps in knowledge; unless he lied to us all. So I relocated to the tundra where fewer witnesses could see the birth of my illegal child, which I was sure now was the cause of my compulsions to move away from Volterra.

No more than five months after first becoming intimate with Caius, my stomach was as bloated as a woman's who was nine months pregnant. I was anxious to observe the child's true nature, whether it was truly an immortal child or whether I would have to murder my own baby as soon as it was born.

That's when I felt the biting begin. I felt teeth from within my womb begin to cut away at my insides, bringing me to my knees in agony. The cutting continued until I felt teeth break the skin of my stomach.

I watched, lying helplessly on my side, as the creature within me cut itself out of me. Eventually its head emerged and I was able to gently pull the child from my belly, wincing at the pain it caused me.

The baby had silver hair hidden under a layer of human blood, accompanied by blue eyes identical to my own, but I could hear a fluttering heartbeat despite her parentage. Her silver hair was confirmation of her father's identity, but nothing could explain the human elements that were present within her. Her teeth were strong enough to cut through my skin, yet she still carried a pulse.

She didn't seem like any of the immortal children I had encountered to this point. They all possessed red eyes and no heartbeat, just like a standard vampire, but this child appeared so obviously half-human, truly as if one of her parents were mortal, but it was impossible.

Her blood didn't smell appealing in the same way as a human's, but it had an almost addictive essence to it, stronger than the pull towards human blood. My motherly instincts perhaps?

As my body's venom got to work repairing my wound, I realised that I had been bleeding human blood from it… Not just any human blood. It smelt so similar to my own scent it disturbed me. How could I have blood in my veins when I had undergone the full vampiric transformation over five hundred years before?

But I could not afford to be concentrating on myself, I gazed down at my daughter, surprised by her warmth in my arms. She was looking up into my face with a curiosity that should have been beyond her current mental capacity.

I stared back with an expression that mirrored hers. If I could sleep I would have been adamant that this were a dream, but here she was, my weird somehow-half-human vampire baby.

"Hello, my little surprise," I cooed at her. Upon hearing my voice, she smiled a toothy grin back at me and let out an adorable gurgly laugh. Admittedly it was bizarre to see a baby so young with a full set of teeth, but for me this changed nothing. I was already head over heels.

Gazing into her eyes, I felt my overwhelming urge to protect her multiply, and I decided that even if she didn't age, I couldn't kill her. I would make sure to teach her the laws so she would be no threat. She already showed signs of comprehension. But more pressingly, I had to avoid coming across any other vampires who might report me to the Volturi. Finally, I understood why so many had made the choice to turn a child into a vampire.

Despite my previous ties to them, if I was shown to have broken the law in such a manner, they would not forgive. I had to hope that my baby would grow up or be intelligent enough to keep the law.

But if she grew up, that would surely mean that she would eventually die? I'd have to turn her if that became a possibility. But would venom even have an effect on someone like her?

I decided after a while of deliberation on the name Athanasia. Whilst I didn't think it wise to let Caius know about the existence of his daughter for now, I wanted her to still have some connection to him. Choosing a Greek name seemed like the right thing to do to honour him. Pinning my hopes upon the possibility of her inheriting vampiric longevity, a name meaning immortal was my way of willing this into fruition.

For the time being, Athanasia remained my little secret.


	12. Chapter 12 - Fairytale

For the next six months, we never stayed in one place for more than three days, not wanting anyone's attention to be drawn to Athanasia's rapid ageing, or run into any other vampire who could rat us out.

Her growth appeared to be slowing down gradually (thankfully), but within the space of just half a year, she had grown from a newborn baby into a small child. The one positive was her intelligence. She thankfully had the capacity to understand the basic rules of being a vampire and had very good self control when it came to matters of food.

Though she'd been able to digest human food the few times she'd actually eaten it, her preference was human blood. Every time I tried to get her to eat food from local bazaars or markets, she would grab my hand and look me in the eyes with her hypnotising azure irises, pleading with me to let her hunt with me. She definitely had a gift for persuasion for no matter how much I wanted her to eat the easier obtainable food, she always got her way.

Food preferences aside, Athy seemed to be like any other normal child. Her favourite game was climbing trees; a hobby that I had forgotten how enjoyable could be. Luckily the tundra provided her with endless opportunities to enjoy this passtime.

"Mama, can you turn into a bird so we can race to the top?" she enthused, skipping through the snow, unfazed by its depth.

"Of course,  _ fy mach i _ (darling)," I smiled, patting her head and regarded the gigantic silver birch that towered over us. "Three...two...one…GO!" I shouted, jumping into the air and shifting. Athy made it to the top first and she waited for me to join her. I perched on her shoulder and playfully pecked her nose. This earnt another fit of giggles. Her laugh echoed throughout the landscape, carried on the wind. It sounded like the perfect marriage of music and the human voice.

Despite the fact that I was her only friend, Athy very easily amused herself. She could find some sort of enjoyment or game in any mundane task, even moving location.

Ever since she had first started speaking, Athy had fun creating a song to remember all of the places we'd lived in. Each time we left another settlement, she'd compose a quirky little verse and perform it for me with a smug grin on her face. Of course it was her favourite lullaby too.

I sung her song back to her in a slower and more melancholy tempo before she went to sleep, followed by the lullabies I remembered from my childhood, as I plaited her long straight silver hair into all sorts of intricate patterns. Sometimes, I sung to her all night and other nights, I just sat and watched her, not wanting to miss a moment with her. I wondered what she dreamt about as it had been so long since I had last done so. Her dainty features would sometimes become screwed up in pain, sending me into a panic, wondering how I could stop her discomfort. But other times, she would smile her toothy grin and mutter unintellible phrases of sleep-talk. I just hoped that she would never have to go to sleep forever.

She did emulate her father too though. Though she'd inherited her theatrical side from me, she definitely had a cruel streak. The one reason she preferred feeding on human blood was the fact she could play with her food. She enjoyed hypnotising the funny humans into doing silly things before she finished them off. However, I didn't deny her the entertainment as I'd already deprived her of the opportunity to make friends. Meat, soup and potaoes were no fun to little Athy.

I wondered why the Volturi hadn't sent anyone after me yet. Aro would not be happy to lose my gift, even if he did still have his prized possessions Jane and Alec. Even more reason to keep on the move. Whilst I could mask my scent well enough if another vampire was near (my powers having returned to me in full after Athy's birth), Athanasia was the one who needed the concealment. If push ever did come to shove, Athy could potentially use her gift to hypnotise a vampire into forgetting about her, but I didn't want it to have to come to that.

Athanasia made me truly appreciate the value of freedom. She knew nothing of the Volturi and their restrictions upon our kind, although she knew the laws well by this point. I was envious of the filter of innocence through which she viewed the world, but feared it would lead her down a path of recklessness at some point.

Although I had enjoyed the time I spent with the Volturi, especially with Caius, I came to see it as another restriction. It was nowhere near as bad as my life during the Roman empire days, but the freedom our little family had here was enough to convince me that the Volturi had been restricting my potential for exploration. Here, we had open steppe and forest for miles, for days. A whole new world of land to explore that was designed especially for vampires. My skin remained its standard milky pallor no matter how much sun shone upon me. Its rays, too weak to truly expose me this far north. Athanasia seemed to have a more human reaction to the sun. It definitely enhanced her charm, but she was not so evidently different.

As Athanasia's outward age became less of a concern, I continued to fear for her safety regardless.

We had been lucky enough to avoid any other vampires as of yet, despite being in such a vampire-friendly environment.

During my 500 years with the Volturi, I had not once heard of such a child. Only the immortal children. That made me concerned that she truly was one of a kind, created by my strange power, the limits of which I still was not certain. If she was completely unique, regardless of her powers of hypnosis, she would surely be of utmost interest to my former coven.

Having realised the freedom that my new life had brought me, and having outgrown the enforced loyalty perpetuated by Charmion, I hoped that my daughter would never have to fall victim to it. However much I wished for her to meet her father, as I wished to return to him myself, for our family to be complete, I knew it would be impossible to do so without incurring the risk of a lifetime of servitude.

Athanasia grew up quickly. However after a decade or so, she became frozen in time like me. I was thankful, though I feared for the fragility of her heartbeat; knowing that it would be possible for another of my kind to mistake her for a human, or for the rhythmic beats to be silenced by some other unforseen force.

We continued to gradually follow the path eastwards, away from Europe and into the unknown. We both wanted to see for how long this beautiful landscape continued, but wished to encounter the cultures here too.

We had learnt so far over two dozen new languages of the steppe nomads and northern peoples. Whilst they were only humans, they lived similar lives to us, always on the move, always moving forwards. The whole community migrated to another, more fertile place whenever their current residence had become resistant to the efforts of agriculture.

Somehow, I felt at home here for now despite the emptiness in my chest.


	13. Chapter 13 - Altan Ord

Despite Athanasia's last observable change in age occurring well over a century ago and my concerns over her lifespan had mostly died down, we both thought it wise either way to maintain a distance from any other populations of vampires for now.

Athy's one-of-a-kind still made me slightly uneasy. For one, she was half human and therefore, potential prey (especially to an out-of-control newborn). But if someone like Aro got his hands on her, she'd be chained to a life sentence with the Volturi.

We had settled somewhere just west of the great lake Baikal and been living here for a while, a modest distance away from the settlements of the human steppe nomads.

There was definitely something violent brewing. A change within the human realm. I knew well the hallmarks of greed and bloodlust as well as how to read the signs of coming change. The tribes of Mongolia had recently united under the guidance of Chinggis Khan and I wanted in on this brewing powerhouse, taking advantage of Aro's advice to become part of the change.

I'd already experimented with my power and infiltrated the upper ranks of the Kheshig (Chinggis Khan's imperial bodyguard). I posed as an advisor and told him of some of the battle techniques that made the Romans such a force. As awkward as it was, to the outside world, Athanasia played the role of my foreign wife and we enjoyed a somewhat integrated life with the humans, choosing to feed only upon the enemy, or towns that had fallen to raids. Athy even took to eating human food for her role. She relished the opportunity to flex her acting skills.

The power that I received, working under Chinggis Khan was more than I ever had whilst working for the Volturi. He was as fair as he was cruel and truly valued his advisors. Even though he was a human, I secretly preferred serving in his army for the freedom and power it gave us both. I wondered whether I should turn him into a vampire, but he was ferocious enough as a human and it was his ability to integrate the conquered that made him so formidable. Replacing that with an untamable thirst for blood seemed like a sure way to deviate him from his course.

We were never short on food and finally had an interesting purpose to pursue. Maybe living amongst the humans wasn't so bad after all.

But in one reckless decision, I nearly lost all that we had built here. One night, whilst Athanasia and I were out on night patrol, which we used as our cover for hunting, we were seen. Not by a vampire, but by a child. The settlement we hunted at had already been mostly wiped out by what seemed to be a foreign invading force, I'd have to call this breach in immediately. It was the smell of blood that attracted us there.

We cleaned up the seven dying survivors that we had identified and were about to leave only to find that our path had been blocked by a small boy that neither of us had smelt prior to our hunt. His swollen and tear-stained eyes looked up at us curiously, having just witnessed us drinking the blood of his community and the thing that was even harder to explain, me shifting back into my male disguise from my natural form. I don't know how we'd both missed him in our initial scan of the area, his heartbeat was perfectly audible now.

"Can you save my mother? You have magic, you can save her! She told me to hide, but they- but they-" he stuttered, his tree-bark brown irises full of both scrutiny and pleading. We didn't answer. I held back Athy, who had begun to lunge towards the boy to finish him off. I don't know why I stopped her. Maybe I'd gone saft after spending so much time around humans. There was something in his eyes that made me hesitate. I recognised that look. It was the same look that I had in my eyes all those years ago when my parents had been taken from me. He  _ craved _ his revenge.

The boy repeated his request again, but I could hear no other remaining heartbeat aside from that of the boy and Athy. It was too late and the boy knew it too. We had given him false hope as he misinterpreted my shapeshifting for a good kind of magic.

"What's your name, boy," I asked softly.

"Mum, what are you doing?" Athy hissed so that only I would hear, but I dismissed her.

"O-Oktai," the boy stuttered.

"Can you take us to your mother Oktai?" I continued. He nodded and led us inside a partially destroyed yurt. The majority of surfaces were covered in red, to the extent that if we had not just fed, the boy would have been sent to rejoin his mother already.

It was an unfortunate sight to behold. The blood on the yurt walls appeared to be that of the boy's father who lay in pieces unrecognisable as being human. His mother looked to have received a more merciful death. One large wound in her chest suggested that she had not had to suffer for long. Her heart was not beating. Even my venom wouldn't be able to save her.

"I'm sorry, kid, there's nothing we can do for her now. But she's no longer in pain," I tried to reassure him, not knowing why I suddenly cared so much for his wellbeing. "Who did this? I can tell the Khan and he can bring the guilty to justice."

"The rebels, the Song rebels," he answered, venom in his voice as he said the name. This poor child really reminded me of myself. I wanted to help him. I wanted him to get his revenge as I had done.

"We'll take you to Karakorum with us and you'll be safe there, you can come and live with us," the words escaped my mouth before I thought of what exactly I was saying.

"Mum, think of what you're saying, please," Athy begged in a hushed whisper.

"Athy, can you make him forget what he saw us do?" I asked urgently.

"I don't think I can make him forget, but I can try and make him think nothing more of it," she said warily.

"Then we have no reason to not let him live," I decided. Athy gave me an unsure look, but obliged, trusting my judgement. She took Oktai's hands and looked into his eyes.

"Oktai,  _ please _ forget about what you saw us doing earlier, we are here to help you, not to hurt you," she whispered to him. He nodded and looked a little more at ease.

Once the boy had fallen asleep in my arms, we ran again at our normal pace. We arrived back to the capital and by the morning, everyone knew of the city's new addition.

Over the coming years, Oktai was able to enact his own revenge just as I did. He had joined the army as soon as he was old enough and his determination saw him rise up through the ranks until he became a commander at the age of only fifteen.

His bloodlust could have given Athanasia and I a run for our money. He was ruthless on the battlefield and I toyed with the idea of turning him into a vampire too. But I remembered just how uncontrollable the thirst was at first and wasn't sure if I could take on the responsibility just yet. Plus I wasn't ready to give up playing kheshig.

Even Athy seemed to have warmed to him. After witnessing the merciless killer the once grieving boy had become, her perception on humans seemed to have mellowed. She didn't find as much joy in humiliating her food anymore.

My mind however was made up a few years later when I returned from a mission to the smell of Oktai's blood, but it was everywhere.

His arban ( _ small army force of 10 people _ ) had fallen victim to an ambush and he was the only one who had managed to make it back to camp. But by the smell of it, he'd lost too much blood already. I burst into the yurt and rushed to his bedside, not caring about using a more human speed. In the decade and a half he'd been my human foster son, I'd grown to care for him as if he were my own. Athy's feelings however had grown even more than I initially perceived. Although they both tried to hide it from me and each other, I knew now that it was inevitable that they would be mates after I saw the scene before me. Recognising that I'd witnessed this kind of bond before, my heart sunk further.

I'd never seen Athanasia this distraught before and it hurt me as well to see her suffering like this. She was squeezing his hand between hers and telling him to stay alive. Oktai was falling in and out of consciousness, the doctor unable to stop his bleeding. His shoulder-length black hair that was usually immaculately coiffed into a bun was now knotted with blood and stuck to his almost unrecognisable face, covered in deep gashes and bruises. But the largest wound was the one in his abdomen, the blood from which had already soaked completely through the tourniquet. Despite this, I'd never felt less appetised.

It was then I noticed the most recent of his wounds; multiple bite marks starting on the hand that Athanasia was holding which travelled down his arm. She bit him again and then cried harder.

"Athy, why are you…" he began, laughing at her peculiar gestures, too close to death to feel the pain of her bites. I knew that she was trying to save him. But for some reason, it wasn't working… Maybe she wasn't venomous enough to turn him...

The doctor acknowledged my entrance and saw my heartbroken expression displayed on my disguise's visage. His face confirmed what I already knew to be true, he hadn't long left for this world. The doctor placed a hand on my shoulder and nodded on his way out, leaving our little family to be alone.

"Mum I don't know why it won't work, I can't save him," she cried hysterically.

"Athy, you've gone mad. Why are you calling your husband, mum," Oktai jested breathily, but she shushed him and cried harder. I knew what must be done.

"Oktai, listen son, I'm going to save you, but it's going to hurt like nothing you've ever felt before," I said, cupping his face.

"Dad, the doctor said there's nothing that can be done," he sighed.

The game was up. I shifted out of my disguise and although there was shock present on his face, he didn't seem as phased by ability as he should have been.

"I wasn't dreaming, you really  _ are _ magic," he gasped. "Athanasia, my darling, if I had known this I would have asked for your hand in marriage sooner," he chuckled and Athy giggled too through her tears, squeezing his hand as she wept. I hesitated no longer. The smell of his blood had ignited my throat and I knew I had to do it now, or I'd end up going into a frenzy and breaking my daughter's heart; leaving her a husk of a being as Marcus was.

I bit into his jugular, holding my breath as I did so, fighting every instinct I had to drink. I'd never done this before, but I knew it was working as he began to scream. My venom was doing its job. I bit him in as many places as I could, trying to make sure there was enough venom to make the transformation as swift as possible. Athanasia's tears of grievance became tears of happiness; not at her lover's pain, but at his salvation.

As soon as the cover of night fell, we left with Oktai to the mountains. I wanted him as far away from the capital as possible to avoid suspicion and him feeding there when he awoke. I returned to the capital as I could not abandon my post, though I knew that I'd have to have left by the time he woke up. Although they were soulmates I was again crippled with worry for Athy's safety due to her humanness.

I played the part of the grieving father, who went into battle distracted by his emotions. The perfect cover under which I could fake my death and return to my children. We moved Oktai again, this time further away from the capital and into the Gobi desert. He had been out for two days now, no doubt he was through the worst of it.

Athanasia had not left his side the whole time. She sat holding his hand and occasionally stroking his hair as he struggled through the pain of the venom fixing his body.

"Athy, why don't you go and hunt, you'll be back before he wakes if you go now, I can't bear to see you so worked up like this," I said, rubbing her shoulder.

"I don't want to leave him, mum, I just  _ can't _ " she sighed, placing her free hand over mine.

"I understand,  _ fy mach i _ , but you want to be at your strongest for when he wakes, you know he might not be able to control himself around you."

"He'll be fine, mum, I know he will. If we bring him some people to drink, he'll go for them first."

"Okay, well if I have to incapacitate him to stop him from attacking you, you better not rip my head off," I warned and she shot me a dirty look. Deep down I knew that he  _ should _ be fine because they were mates, but it never hurt to exercise caution around newborns.


	14. Chapter 14 - Eternal Wanderers

Though Athanasia and myself had avoided coming into contact with any other vampires during our nearly two centuries of isolation together, our little trio seemed to attract more attention.

It was thanks to this first encounter that we figured out that Oktai too was gifted. It was around time of his transformation, as his senses were a little more heightened than ours. He heard them coming before we did. Luckily his urge to protect Athy kicked in subconsciously and he was able to somehow mask her human attributes from them somehow.

Although I'd tried to tap the rhythm of her heart against her waist as I held her close, I knew it wouldn't help for long. But I needn't have worried. Oktai managed to hide both the sound of her heartbeat and the glow of her blood under her skin from them.

His shield turned out to be very useful. We could now interact with other vampires for a decent amount of time without them becoming any the wiser to Athanasia's true nature. The fact that he could seemingly hide certain things from detection made me wonder if we would be able to travel back to my homeland without alerting the Volturi. I had wanted to show my daughter the land of my birth ever since she was born.

We spent another century or so in Siberia living in near isolation and each training up our respective powers. Since birds were my speciality, I'd come to perfect my transformation into a golden eagle, which helped us to scout out an area before we moved without looking too out of place.

Athy on the other hand had developed her hypnosis to the point that if Oktai's shield failed, she could convince any passing vampires to forget completely what they had witnessed. This meant that we would no longer have to dispose of anyone after the five we'd already been forced to burn due to my paranoia. However, she could not convince someone who had completely made up their mind. Thankfully, adding the threat of death usually made someone's mind easy to change.

Oktai's shield was very selective, but effective. I believed and hoped that it had potential to deceive and withhold choice information from Aro himself. I'd trained him to be able to project it further than just to Athy. He'd been able to completely stop me from being influenced by Athanasia's hypnosis, proving to me that it were the senses that his shield deceived. However, he had to know  _ exactly _ what he needed to hide, for example, he could only block Athy's power if he knew prior to her using it, what she was going to try and make me do. At least now I knew how he'd hidden himself from us all those years ago. He'd obeyed his mother's last wishes and been able to hide when his life depended on it.

Athanasia had rarely asked about her father in all these years, but I came to the realisation that now, honesty was the best policy when it came to stopping your child from running away and doing anything reckless. So I told them of my life with my former coven.

I was well aware that the only reason Aro had let me leave without a fight was my absolute certainty at the time that I would return. If he had known that I would abandon him, he would have used Charmion to keep me there without a doubt. That is why I could not risk Athy going there without a gameplan. When the time was right for her to meet Caius, it would have to be together and with a well thought-out plan to hide certain rebelliatory thoughts from Aro.

It must have been around the time of the 1700s when we made our way to Europe, deciding to remain in Central Asia for the time being thanks to the protection offered by its isolation and remoteness.

Europe at the time was more extravagant than any of us could imagine. If I thought that the Volturi were eccentric a millennium ago then I was certainly mistaken by today's standards.

Being an enthusiast for the dramatic, Athanasia adored the culture of the time, relishing in the fashion and arts. Diving straight into the powdered wigs adorned with fruits and huge dresses to match, she enjoyed playing the role of a damsel in distress to lure in her prey.

Even though I was from this part of the continent, having not lived here for seven hundred years and I felt just as big a culture shock as Oktai, who had never left the steppes. Even my homeland was nothing like the pagan land I grew up in. The godforsaken religion imported by the Romans prevailed, dividing the population on whose variation was the most righteous, but I decided to approach it this time with an open mind.

We arrived to the former site of my hometown at the start of winter, observing from the hills how the humans in the little village that now resided here placed a gigantic fir tree in the centre of the village square and decorated it. Children laughed as they threw snowballs at each other as they ran through the streets to the chagrin of their parents.

Descending into the village, I felt a strange mix of emotions. Whilst some of the forests I walked as a child had been felled to accommodate the new architecture, to my surprise, much of it remained. Crossing the threshold into the settlement, I heard snippets of conversation as people went about their daily lives. Even the language of the locals had not changed too significantly since my time, as strange as some of the colloquialisms sounded.

Tracing the steps that my body seemed to know so well, I felt more human than I ever had. Vulnerable. My eyes stung as if trying to release tears as my family walked through the main street of the town. Approaching the fir tree, I wondered what it was commemorating. For it stood pretty much in the spot that fifteen hundred years before had witnessed the murder of my human family.

That's when a friendly looking middle-aged man, dressed in black approached us with a smile on his face.

" _ Bore da _ (good day), my children, from where do you travel?" the man articulated, holding out his hand for one of us to shake. I took it and began to acquire the modern Welsh language.

"Oh, just from Ireland," I began tentatively, "but we have some relatives from this part of Wales, and were wanting to come and visit." Any trepidation that was on the man's face had all but disappeared.

"Well, of course you must stay for a while, I hope you're not just passing through!" he implored, evidently taken in by our visual charm. What a pity, someone so willing to invite vampires into their town would not last long should the wrong ones pass through.

"That's very kind of you, sir, but we do not wish to intrude," I apologised, not sure if I could even handle the psychological burden of staying here for any longer. However, Athanasia reached for the man's hand and convinced him to let us stay with him.

The man introduced himself as the priest of the parish, by the name of Bryn. His wife Cerys was the local florist, her shop abundant with wistful aromas of the forest. Their little girls, Rhoswen and Angharad enjoyed experimenting with Athy's hair who played along exuberantly with their games of hairdresser. Their youngest child, Dafydd, however, was perpetually uneasy when any of our coven were around. Perhaps his age made him more attuned into his instincts.

Laughing off Dafydd's odd behaviour (which apparently was a regular occurence as he frequently took a disliking to plenty of well-to-do people), the Reverand and his wife urged us to stay for the whole Christmas period. We agreed, wanting to integrate ourselves into this close-knit society, but knowing our residence here would have to be as transient and brief as possible.

The others both picked up the language quickly, much to the appreciation of Reverand Bryn and his family and we soon became the talk of the town. Unfortunately, Oktai sometimes had a hard time controlling his hunger and would have to leave to go on "a midnight walk to clear his mind" every so often, in order to not break our earlier established no-feeding-inside-the-village policy.

When Christmas morning came, we celebrated with the village, singing their carols and partaking in their tradition of a feast (although Oktai and I had to pay the price afterwards). The winter provided us with the perfect opportunity to live a somewhat normal life amongst the humans.

Although most people were initially surprised to see someone of Oktai's appearance in the vicinity, not even to mention his red eyes, they welcomed him with open arms. For the people living on the land of my family over a millennium afterwards, I could not ask for more acceptance. Maybe humanity was truly heading in the direction of embracing the unknown. The sense of nostalgia came flooding back, but made my heart ache somehow even more.

As Boxing Day morning arrived, we stood in the town centre, next to the tree, as snowflakes fell upon our skin, only melting upon contact with Athanasia. I told them now of my human life and they listened intently, understanding how much it meant personally to be back in my native country and was thankful for their open-mindedness and tolerance of my self-indulgent wishes to return to my home town.

Thanking Reverand Bryn and his family for their charity, Cerys handed Athanasia and I a bouquet of snowdrops each that she and the girls had picked fresh from the forest. This final reminder of my human life was enough to force my body to change to allow me to cry. The venomous tears burned, but the relief they brought me was just as much as the warmth that now flooded my heart.

Against every wish I had to stay here, we turned to leave, returning the farewells of the villagers. Despite his previous animosity, even little Dafydd waved us off as we departed.

As the nineteenth century melted into the twentieth, we decided to move further north in Europe. We decided to stay close enough to civilization to be aware of any goings-on in the vicinity, but far enough to not be in the path of any nomads.

We managed somehow, choosing to live in the forests of frosty Scandinavia. Settling here was a perfect idea, as we could keep a close eye on human developments whilst masquerading as the folkloric Huldra. However, the rate at which technology developed surprised us all. The closest town to our forest blossomed from a rural nomansland into a thriving winter city adorned with tall glass mountains and metal horses.

No doubt, huge cultural change was afoot, and the introduction of communicative technology was certainly a step-up for the humans.

Athanasia had known about her father for many years now, but never sensed it was the right time to ask. Maybe now that we had become accustomed to Europe, she felt comfortable to discuss him.

"Mum," she addressed me one day when Oktai was out on an errand, with a tone I knew could mean only one thing. "I think I'm ready to meet dad."

I inhaled sharply, over-stimulating my thirst at the same time, causing a coughing fit. Maybe the tension made me more anxious to eat. However, when I turned to answer her, I tried to hide all signs of opposition. Of course, she'd try it when he wasn't around. Hearing my stories of the Volturi, Oktai was more opposed to returning than I, and she knew it. Athanasia too, recognised the pull I felt to that place and how I tried so desparately to avoid it.

"Okay, we can go to see him, Athy," I answered with as neutrally as I could manage, knowing cooperation was the only way. If I disagreed, she'd only force me to agree through using my wish to see Caius again as bait, and then we'd be going in blind.

"I know we'll all have to go together mum, don't worry," she tried to reassure, "I'll tell Oktai if you want, that's how much I care."

"Too right you'll be the one to tell him, you'll give the poor thing an anneurism! And of course, and we'll need a plan, we'll need to be careful of what we show them," I worried, thinking of the powers that the Volturi held in their arsenal, and only imagining who they could have recruited in the time of my absence.

"I've wanted to meet him for centuries, but I don't think I can put this off anymore. I know they're dangerous, but I  _ need _ to meet him. It's unfair on him that I've spent so much time with you and so little with him," she continued.

"I thank you for respecting my worries."

"But I've decided that now is the time," she definitively announced. I knew that we had to go back. I didn't want to. Aro would never let us go. Of course getting his hands on such a unique creature as Athanasia, would be the pride of his collection. Oktai's selective shield was also a tempting power too. But how could I deny my daughter the opportunity to meet her father? Especially after she had been patient for a thousand years.

Knowing that we would be walking into a life sentence, I did not dispute.

So we began to plot exactly which thoughts we would mask from them. We eventually settled on a few of our thoughts of our treasonous conversations, all of our scheming, as well as the existence of both Athanasia's and Oktai's powers. If they thought their intimidation had no effect on us, they'd be doubly harsh.

It was spring of 2007 when we decided to move. I had tried not to terrify my family about what lay ahead, but I warned them that we would never be able to travel as freely as we had before ever again. Although the thought seemed to have permeated Oktai, a nomad by nature even in his human life, Athy was more enthusiastic than ever to spend time with her father and he was prepared to make that sacrifice for her.

We travelled non-stop, save for letting Athy rest, deciding to make a detour to Saint-Petersburg to shop for some natural-looking human clothes that could cover Oktai and I enough in the sunlight of southern Europe, but that looked presentable and professional at the same time.

Of course Athanasia looked stunning in everything she wore. Neither I nor Oktai could give an unbiased opinion as she was the light of both of our lives. She eventually settled on a lacy, but modest dark blue vintage dress which let every aspect of her beauty shine through, hopefully increasing her hypnotic pull. Because she didn't react the same way to sunlight as us, she was quite content with showing some skin.

On the other hand, Oktai settled with some skinny jeans and a hooded jacket, accompanied by sunglasses which hid the redness in his eyes.

I chose a long baggy black dress that covered most of my skin, but added a glass diamond-encrusted belt around my waist so I didn't look so out of place against the fashion of the era.

We set off to Italy with determination and our plan in mind (though not for long if Oktai's powers were to be successful). A very repressed part of me could not be more relieved by our decision to return to Volterra.


	15. Chapter 15 - Connaissance

We arrived in the city of Volterra as afternoon faded into evening, our disguises worked enough to obscure Oktai and I from the glaring rays of sunlight that still shone. We weren't the only ones of our kind lurking in the shadows. The mouthwatering aromas of human locals and tourists were interrupted every so often by dozens of unique scents of venom, specific to each vampire. Some, I regrettably recognised, but the number and unfamiliarity of the others put me even more on edge.

I daren't look at Oktai, who I could hear gritting his teeth, uncomfortable by how incredibly outnumbered we were. Our coven had, until this point, always outnumbered those we encountered on our travels.

The town square didn't seem to have changed at all on the exterior since I had been there last, but the addition of buses and supermarkets certainly juxtaposed the ancient buildings and cobbled streets. It provided me with a strange sense of sentimentality that I wasn't sure if I welcomed or not. We made our way into the hidden underground labyrinth which had led to the demise of so many humans. The fear practically stuck to the walls.

Reaching the reception desk (an interesting new installment), we requested a private audience with the three leaders. Of course, the human receptionist had to make a big deal of it, emphasising the need to prebook such a request.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but that's impossible, security is of the utmost importance since-"

"Tell them it's Luíseach here to see them," I interrupted impatiently, tired of putting this off any longer.

"Of course, ma'am, but I can't guarantee they'll be able to fit in an appointment on such short notice," she smirked arrogantly. Shame, I doubted she'd last more than a month before pissing her employers off enough to eat her.

The smirk faded from her face when she mentioned my name over the phone. We could all hear the enthusiastic response of Aro through the receiver as he requested we be sent through immediately.  _ ("Don't be incredulous, Zala! Let them in at once!") _ . It was time for the moment of truth.

I gave a quick nervous glance to Oktai and he nodded back, his judgement of their danger wasn't skewed by direct personal ties, so he understood the importance of hiding just enough from them. We were all ready.

We entered the main chamber through the unchanged wooden double doors hand in hand, Athy in the middle. There was no point in trying to hide our bonds from them. To my surprise, the infamous trio were not idling upon their usual thrones, they were instead  _ unnaturally _ engaged in their reading.

Aro was the first to "notice" us. It was obvious they were putting on this display of ignorance, to lure their visitors into a false sense of security.

"Mia bella, Luíseach, you've returned at last," he spoke in barely more than a whisper, approaching us at lightning speed, "how long we have anticipated your return." Caius seemed suspiciously quiet during this exchange. In fact he hadn't moved a millimetre since we had entered the room. I was thankful for his feigned ignorance for now.

"And you have brought guests!" he enthused, turning towards my children. His lack of surprise or confusion made it obvious he knew more than he was letting on as he observed Athanasia's strange heartbeat. Both Oktai and my hands tightened on Athy's in protection. The Volturi were, of course, more refined than the sewer trash that infected the rest of the vampire world and should not be compelled to attack her, but we both sensed the threat that was in the air.

"Luíseach, would you care to share your story here," Aro asked greedily, not bothering to mask his joy. He seemed  _ too  _ at ease with Athy's presence, as though he'd been waiting for something like this.

Without saying a word, I held out my hand to his and he took it. Marcus could no doubt already see who Athanasia was to everyone in this room thanks to his gift, but he remained as placid as ever.

"Oh my, you have been a naughty boy, Caius," he whispered, whilst still maintaining eye contact with me. Caius's gaze shifted for the first time and I felt Athy twitch beside me. I could feel his eyes staring daggers at us, but he still did not move from his seat.

_ "Athanasía, louloudi mou _ (flower), would you care to share your version of events with me?" Aro asked, reaching to take her hand too, "yes, I can definitely see the resemblance," he muttered to himself, eyes intently scanning her long straight silver hair.

She took his hand without any fear, only determination. Aro seemed almost unaware of Oktai in all of his interest in Athy. All according to plan so far.

"Of course, my darling, I understand. Caius, would you care to join us?" he continued. Walking at a human pace, Caius approached us. Whilst a neutral expression adorned his face, I could feel the inferno lurking beneath. But oh, how I'd missed its warmth.

"What is it Aro?" he spat.

"Now now, Caius, there's no need to be so negative, after all, you want to set a good example for your  _ daughter _ , don't you?" Aro announced with a chuckle. "She just wishes to meet you," he added scandalously, overly accenting the word with his badly hidden euphoria.

Caius's eyes made immediate contact with mine, his expression furious now. Unprepared to be assaulted by his stare, I was overpowered by the sudden jolt that reverberated throughout my body.

"I can't have a child, Aro, we all know that's impossible. What kind of trickery is this?" he demanded, enraged.

"Do not forget the power your lover possesses," Aro said, still trying to hide the full extent of his exultation.

"She's not my lover," he said, staring me in the eye with a look of pure hatred as he said so. Aro had evidently seen the theory that I had about Athanasia's origins. Ever since Jane and Alec had joined the Volturi coven, I had felt the maternal urge to parent a child. In hindsight, it was so similar to the feeling I had when I first changed my eye colour, I can't believe I hadn't noticed it sooner.

"Even so, the girl is your daughter," murmured Marcus monotonously from his distant corner of the room. Caius looked at him with a murderous glare.

"Please, father, I wouldn't have bothered you if I didn't want to meet you," Athy spoke, breaking the awkward silence and grabbing ahold of her his hands, much to his offence.

"I just hope we can get along and that you'll get over your feelings of betrayal," she urged, staring him in the eye with an equally passionate glare. He obliged. This may have been too obvious a display of her gift, but it was enough to not get us murdered.

"I'll give you a chance, child, but no funny business, from any of you," he demanded, looking scathingly at both Oktai and I.

"May I ask a few questions, my dear," Aro interrupted softly.

"Of course," replied Athy as Caius retreated moodily back to his reading.

"I am, of course, curious about your nature, as I have met only a few like you before."

"There are more like her?" I asked in astonishment before I could stop myself. How long had they known about this? How was that even possible, surely only I possessed such an unnatural power. Had we just walked right into a trap?

"A handful," replied Aro with a smile, not letting on how much he exactly knew.

"Tell us, please, Athanasia, how old are you?"

"Nearly a thousand now," she answered.

"When did you stop ageing?" Aro continued.

"About a decade after I was born."

"Do you have to sleep? What is your diet?"

"I sleep about six to seven hours a day and I can digest both human food and blood, although I  _ strongly _ prefer blood," she added.

"Naturally," he chuckled. Though it didn't distract from the murderous anger I could feel from the corner of the room that Caius was occupying, however I didn't feel it was directed towards our trio this time.

"And do you possess any gift, my child?" he enquired, an eyebrow raised.

"Steady on, Aro, she's  _ my _ daughter, not yours" interrupted Caius, "you don't have to tell him anything if you don't want," he added defensively.

I hadn't expected her powers to work this well, but I was grateful that they had, maybe the biological connection somehow enhanced their effects. We had wanted to avoid telling them of the full extent of our coven's powers to avoid forced recruitment, but if our lives depended on it...

"Why don't I show you to a spare room, you must be tired after your journey here," Caius offered, uncharacteristically kindly, before Athanasia had had a chance to answer. He'd evidently taken his sudden change of heart as an indication of her influencing him somehow. He took us to a recently added ( _ in the last thousand years _ ) guest suite, composing of a bedroom and ensuite.

Caius showed us to the room, but stopped me as I tried to follow my children in.

"You were foolish to come here, Luíseach," he whispered venomously, "you know what he'll be planning now he knows you can bear a child!" He was gripping my shoulders so tightly now that I could not move.

"I couldn't deny her the chance to meet you," I hissed, brushing one of his hands off me.

He sighed. "You can't even begin to understand how much I hate you for abandoning me for so long," he whispered through gritted teeth.

"I did not mean to, surely you can understand that I thought I'd be put to death if I came back!" I snapped back.

"Of course, I understand  _ why _ , but what I don't understand is  _ how _ you could have stayed away for so long knowing that she was harmless," he said, running his hand roughly through my hair, pulling it so I looked up directly into his eyes, black with both anger and desire, his face only centimetres from mine. Neither of us noticed Oktai appearing around the doorway, interrupting us.

"Is everything okay mum?" he asked tentatively, misinterpreting the predatory gaze in Caius's eyes. We jumped apart in surprise.

"No problems so far, Oktai, son," I tried to assure him, but he just glanced suspiciously at Caius. We followed him into the room where Athanasia was busy making herself at home.


	16. Chapter 16 - Changing Perceptions

Athanasia POV

The rich smell of satin was the first scent that filled my nose as I awoke, reminding me of the luxury we had lived at various points in history. Remembering where we were  _ now _ however, I smiled to myself and opened my eyes.

My warrior was there as always, the vision of perfection, illuminated by the morning sun shining in through the window, watching over me as I slept in his arms. He hadn't changed position at all despite my no doubt restless sleep which always tormented me when we moved places.

I wondered how I would compose the verse in my now two-day-long moving-house-song to this majestic place. Having not been surrounded by this kind of splendour since the eighteenth century or so, I was keen to make it the dominating motif of the piece.

Yawning widely, I realised what had disturbed my slumber. The sweet cherry oak scent of my mother was absent from my surroundings. Or so mixed in with the cocktail of aromas leading in and out of the door that it was no longer distinguishable.

Reading the panic that had appeared on my face, Oktai stroked my cheek with his cold hand. A cold that always brought me back to our time in Siberia.

"Pretty much everyone I can smell in this place came in to get a look," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"What!? How come you didn't wake me, I wanted to meet them all. To see what all the fuss is about," I pouted. My warrior just smiled at me.

"Your attitude,  _ khairaa _ (love) is exactly why we didn't wake you," he said with a serious look this time, "mum's scoping everyone out to gauge who we need to avoid, you need to be careful."

Still pouting, I folded my arms.

"I can stand up for myself, you know."

Sighing deeply, my warrior became more serious.

"And how will you defend yourself in your sleep?" he said sternly, raising his eyebrow further.

Before I could sass him, we heard fast approaching footsteps and I looked up to see mum come into the room, the permanent expression of worry still haunting her features. I felt so guilty for putting her through this much stress, but I only hoped it would pay off in the long run. It was clear that she wanted to come back here deep down, the amount she talked about this place.

"What's the verdict?" Oktai asked her.

"Do you want the good news first, or the bad?" she replied, ignoring my consciousness. Although I appreciated them going out of their way to protect me, it was annoying how they seemed to be excluding me from so many of their discussions recently.

"The good," I interrupted, becoming frustrated now. Mum moved from the door to sit on my bed upon observing my irritability.

"The ones we need to watch out for are the ones I already told you about; Charmion, though she's called Chelsea now, the twins and Corin. Although, Chelsea shouldn't be able to affect our bonds too much from what I've gathered, because we're family," she whispered quickly.

"And what's the bad news?" Oktai asked, his arm tightening slightly around my shoulder.

"Their new tracker, Demetri," she stated with a scowl. "We're already in the shit; even if we get away, he'll always be able to find us, no matter where we go," she hissed and shook her head in disapproval.

"Even if I convince him not to?" I asked, sure that his power couldn't be  _ that _ strong.

" _ Even _ if you convince him not to," she said sternly. Sighing with frustration, I sat up, pushing aside my lover's arms.

"Well, there's no time to waste, if we're already screwed but also not as screwed as we thought we'd be, can I  _ finally _ meet everyone?" I huffed, trying to convey as much impatience as possible.

Both my mother and my love sighed in unison. I was curious to finally meet the others who I had heard so much of in mum's stories. Hopefully, I'd be able to finally spend some time with dad too, but if what I'd been told about this coven were true, I doubted that would happen anytime soon.

Spending a few minutes freshening up, I kept a close ear on the conversation between mum and Oktai, keen to not be left out. Sadly, they didn't say anything interesting that I heard, but I was well aware that my status as a half-human left some of my senses a little less sharp than theirs.

The relief at finally meeting my father had distracted me from the fact that there were others like me out there too. I had always been a little jealous of both humans and vampires - both having others of their kind to relate to. Most of the time, it was interesting to be unique, but to never quite fit into either category was just as frustrating as being left out of conversations about yourself.

We spent the day being formally introduced to the various coven members - many of whom were even younger than me (much to my surprise). Sadly, most of them seemed way too serious, despite having some funky powers, it was easy to see how mum could have spent so much time around them. In the evening, Aro had decided to throw a last-minute ball in honour of our rejoining the coven.

I really wanted to see what Alec's power was like to experience, although not so much his sister's. Being deprived of the sense of taste would be the perfect time to eat human food. Speaking to the twins, Jane told me about how she sometimes liked to use her terrifying but cool power on her food. Thank goodness I wasn't the only one! The way mum scolded me sometimes made it seem as though it was the ultimate taboo.

My hopes of finding someone with my sense of humour were almost gone when mum reluctantly introduced me to Demetri and Felix, the former being the so-called super-tracker. Noting how they clearly hid an air of playfulness behind a mask of gravitas, I was immediately more sympathetic towards them.

"I'd tell you a joke, but it'd just be a pain in the neck," I said, shaking both of their hands, hearing my mum's barely audible groan at my awful sense of humour. Demetri snorted.

"Heard that one a million times before, you're going to have to try harder than that," he scoffed with a smirk, looking towards Felix with a slight scowl and slipping some notes and coins into the larger vampire's hand.

"Oh you better believe it's on, Dima" I threatened, thankful to finally have someone I could share my shitty jokes with. Overall, the Volturi guard, apart from Demetri and Felix and of course, the bitterly sweet Jane were fairly boring. Though most of them had interesting powers, very few could back it up with an interesting personality to match. Shame.

Finally, I had the opportunity to speak with the so-called kings. Marcus was exactly as mum had described him; in a perpetual state of wishing he was anywhere else but the present moment. I could relate in the fact that if I lost my mother or my warrior, just as he had lost his mate, I know I'd feel just as lost as he looked. Aro was surprisingly upbeat. I tried to quiz him on the other hybrids that he knew of, but to no real avail. He tried his best to avoid answering my questions and I knew for now that it was best not to push his determination not to share, especially with his nervous little bodyguard Renata standing constantly behind him, glaring suspiciously at me.

I finally got the chance to speak with my father. It was surreal. When we'd met for the first time yesterday, he'd been so obviously overcome with emotions, he'd not known what to do. Now, however, he was silent; letting me speak and make the conversation as I swayed to the piano concerto being played by Corin, the vampire who could make one feel content.

"So," I began awkwardly, "I hear you were the one who changed mum."

His red eyes scoured my blue ones.

"Yes. We'd heard of a powerful being in the Celtic kingdoms, from our tracker at the time. We went there, ready for Aro to turn her. But when we arrived, Aro read her thoughts and Marcus saw the bond that was to blossom between us, so it was decided that I should be the one to do it," he answered, very matter-of-factly, "though none of us could have guessed at the time, that someone like  _ you _ could have emerged from that relationship," he declared, the mask of neutrality never leaving his face. I could not believe that two such serious vampires could be my parents.

"Fun story, but are you always this sincere?" I asked, nearly dying of boredom, slightly disappointed that my father wasn't the comedian I'd always pictured him as.

"Of course I'm always this serious, child," he began, in a somewhat disgusted tone, "you think I could maintain my status as king without it?"

I rolled my eyes at his sincerity. Of course, ruling by fear was one thing, but to rule by respect was another.

"You mock me, child?" he questioned, raising his eyebrow.

"Not even that, dad. I just expected you to be a little more… ya know… humorous," I admitted, disappointed by his reaction.

"You've a lot to learn, child, especially about respect. But I trust that it will not take you long," he said, awkwardly placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry,  _ babas (μπαμπ'ας) _ , I'm a quick learner," I smiled, noticing his gaze travel across the hall to my mother who was in deep conversation with Aro. Noting the longing in his eyes, I took my opportunity to try and fix up my family. "Hey,  _ babas _ , maybe you should ask her on a date. You know, mum's not a big shopper, so her wardrobe is practically empty right now, she'd be  _ really _ impressed if you treated her to a day on the town," I suggested with a wink as his eyes flickered back to mine. His hand found the back of my head and he pulled me into a deep embrace.

Despite his inhospitable attitude until now, I felt some warmth behind this gesture. "You have no idea, Athy," he whispered as he hugged me close to him. I finally felt whole. Maybe it was just the fact that he called me by my name this time, but I at last felt the truth that he hid behind his impartial words. "Thanks for the advice," he whispered, patting me on the head.

I knew the situation was awkward, what with dad still being married to the elusive Athenodora (conveniently absent from tonight's celebrations), but I was determined to set my parents up with each other properly seeing how much they both fought their feelings.

Luíseach POV

"So, what you're saying, Aro, is that you want to raise your own army of hybrids," I probed, already knowing the answer.

"Luíseach, surely you see the potential! They can integrate fully within human society!" Aro replied, his infamous greed flashing in his eyes like a madman.

"But how can you be sure they'll have any powers at all?"

"From everyone I've met so far, they inherit some sort of inverted version of their parents' gifts," he began. I thought about my power to be able to change my own physical body in comparison to Athanasia's ability to change the decisions of another. Maybe there was some substance to this claim. "It's the perfect opportunity, would you not agree?" he asked.

"I see where you're coming from, however there are surely many other options. You have numerous other members in your coven who could produce interesting powers. Why not try setting Demetri up with a human, or Alec, even though he's just a kid? They have far more interesting traits!"

"Mia bella, Luíseach, think of if one of those powers were to be combined with yours! The possibilities!" Aro enthused, getting ahead of himself now. I looked at him with disgust.

"Of course, I understand your curiosity, Aro, but I don't understand the urgency, and you surely see that I only have such feelings towards one in this room" I awkwardly tried to stall, very uncomfortable now how open he was in his intentions.

"I would agree with you completely, if we still had Vito among us," he frowned. Of course, someone like Vito could have easily tracked a suitable human to mate with. Great, I'd got us all trapped.

"Out of curiosity," he began, "have Oktai and Athanasia ever tried for a baby?"

I looked at him, pure fury in my eyes right now. How dare he ask that about my daughter.

"Aro, that's overstepping the boundary. I don't care what you ask me, but don't you dare bring my or your fellow king's daughter into this!" I spat at him.

"Very well, Luíseach, I'll try my best to track down some gifted humans, but I cannot make any promises. All I need is to ensure we remain stronger than the Cullens," he smiled, taking my hand to dance once more to the waltz that was urging us to the dancefloor.


	17. Chapter 17 - First Date

The first week and a half being back in Volterra were completely surreal. I'd never felt both such at ease, but too so on edge. Aro's threat hung over me like an impending avalanche, but being back near Caius had settled both mine and Athy's nerves.

I had dared not approach the object of my affections this whole time, but I enjoyed the tension that was building between us, knowing that it would explode in a moment of passion anytime soon.

Athy, in the meantime, had been getting on well within our new coven. She'd made a surprising friendship with Jane; ushered on by the fact they both enjoyed playing with their food. Though I was still tense at the cameraderie she'd built up with the bodyguards Demetri and Felix, but appreciated the possible future value these friendships could bring in the currency of mercy. But most of all, I was proud of the bond that had started to develop between Athanasia and Caius. Although, Caius didn't seem like the kind of being to naturally take to fatherhood, he was the first to volunteer to take Athy out hunting or to educate her in some sort of modern social norm that she was unaccustomed to.

Today was a usual spring morning. The dawn light that shone through our bedroom window bounced off mine and Oktai's skin in a prism of colours before retreating behind the sheet of clouds that decorated the heavens.

Athanasia woke up with both of us present in her room, just as it had been for almost a thousand years. Since giving birth to my daughter, I'd only ever left her during the night four times. The first three being after Oktai's transformation, the fourth being our first night here. It was thanks to this that I gave myself the excuse to stay away from Caius properly. I didn't want to let my little girl out of my sight, although I knew she had the fire to take care of herself, and if she couldn't, Oktai would kill anything that threatened his mate.

"Morning, fy mach i, how do you feel today?" I asked, knowing she hadn't fed for almost a week now.

"Thirsty as fuck, sorry mum," she replied, still uneasy at swearing in front of me. "I want to go out with just Oktai today though, mum, if that's good with you," she replied innocently, batting her eyelids.

"No problem, just make sure you approve it with your father first," I warned, not wanting to get on his bad side just yet. The Volturi greatly preferred to order in their food nowadays, but I could not deny the thrill of the hunt to my daughter.

Once Athy had washed and dressed, they both left the room at superspeed.

A few moments after Athy and Oktai had left the room, I heard a knock at the door. Looking up in curiosity, I saw that Caius was standing on the threshold in a surprisingly modern-looking get-up.

"Would you care to accompany me on a day out?" he spoke softly.

"A day out? Where were you thinking?" I replied, taken off guard by the soft timbre of his voice. He glided over to me, placing a hand on the small of my back and the other on my cheek.

"You're so adorable when you're surprised, so I think I'm going to keep that information a secret," he chuckled romantically, a sentence which would have made me blush had I been a human.

"How many of Aro's minions are coming with us?" I asked sarcastically, stroking his silky hair.

"Just Felix and Demetri," he said, kissing my forehead in such a familiar way, despite the centuries separating our intimacy from now.

"Oh great, the two clowns," I muttered, rolling my eyes over-dramatically, at least they'd be good company, despite it being a date. "How did you even get this approved anyway?"

"Even Aro has his weaknesses," he said, pulling me closer to him. "It's going to be nice and cloudy today, so put on something bold and meet me in the garage."

He left the room in a flash and left me standing there wondering when and where they'd installed a garage. I slid open the door to the walk-in wardrobe that I'd only filled an eighth of the way and picked out a knee-length silver wrap dress with some Louboutins that Athanasia had chosen out for me in Saint Petersburg.

I plaited my hair in two strands and fixed them at the back so it resembled a crown upon the rest of my hair that tumbled down my back like a hellish waterfall. Grabbing my favourite little black handbag, I went to try and find the garage with a spring in my step. Following the smell of petrol, I found it in no time. Demetri and Felix were both standing admiring a flashy lime green Porsche.

"You see, Fe, I really want to get the new Lambo, but I don't have enough in my allowance to even scrape a deposit," I heard Demetri gush. Felix was carrying a chunky-looking box, from which the scent of chilled blood poured.

Noticing my presence, both vampires waved in acknowledgement.

"What do you think of my beauty, Lady Luíseach?" Demetri asked, patting his car on the roof. "Who needs a mate when you can drive a goddess like this. Handles almost better than a vampire."

"I...um...admire your choice of colour," I confessed, not really knowing enough about cars to give a valid judgement. The two exchanged a look and Felix let out a chuckle.

"Pay up Dima," Felix laughed, "no offence to you, of course my Lady," he clarified, observing my disapproving expression. I wondered how many bets they'd already put on today's events to come. Probably enough to buy Demetri his new car.

Luckily, the awkwardness was interrupted by the arrival of Caius.

"Are we ready to go, Demetri?" he demanded in his authoritative voice.

"Of course, Master," the tracker said, snapping out of his playful mood.

Caius handed me a small blue book, "Felix is going to hold onto these for us, but just so you can familiarise yourself with it." I took the little book and read the golden writing:  _ Repubblica Italiana: Passaporto Diplomatico _ . I'd never had a passport before, but to have a diplomatic one of all things.

Opening the passport, I saw the name that was printed next to the picture of me: _signora_ _Luciana Volturi_.

"Sorry about the name change, it turns out Luíseach isn't a popular name nowadays, even in Ireland," Caius sighed, seeing the strange expression upon my face.

"Yeah, apparently my human name is now De-MEH-trio," the tracker said in an exaggerated Italian accent, gesturing wildly.

"No, I understand, I'm just shocked how you could forge a whole diplomatic passport this quickly," I responded, trying to avoid eye contact with Demetri, which I knew would make me burst into laughter. Caius smiled smugly.

"You think I'd make my mate masquerade as a commoner?" he whispered, taking me aback by his use of the word "mate". Meeting his gaze, I realised just how intensely red his irises were in comparison to his icy skin and hair as they bore into my own blue ones.

A cough from Felix's direction snapped me out of my little trance. He had opened the door and was waiting for us to get in. Despite being such an enclosed space, the backseat was surprisingly comfortable.

Demetri started the engine and after a number of obnoxious revs, we sped out of the underground garage and into the Italian countryside. I turned towards Caius, whose hand had been resting upon my own, tracing small circles nonchalantly upon my skin.

"So, what exactly is your plan and why do we have a big box of blood with us?" I enquired, staring into his crimson eyes, trying to look for any sign of a lie.

"The blood is just for those two," he inclined his head towards the two front seats, "we shall be dining under much more lavish circumstances," he reassured, taking my hand in his. "I'm going to spoil you completely today, Luíseach," he purred, placing a kiss upon my lips. I could have sworn that I heard a small snort from one of the front seats, but then again, it could have just been the engine.

We arrived shortly in Firenze and Caius and I made our way into the town, hand in hand; the most overtly romantic he'd been the whole time we knew each other. I couldn't deny that this tender side of him was just as appealing as his feral side.

Most of the human passers by gave us a wide berth and not just because Demetri and Felix were following us, dressed in their sunglasses and heavy coats and towering over everyone. Although I could appear more human than the standard vampire with my control over eye colour, Caius's appearance tended to frighten away most who dared enter into his personal space. He need not hide his eyes, thanks to his colourless skin and white hair. Albinism in humans was usually something that drew in a lot of stares, but people seemed to want to avoid Caius's constant murderous gaze. Pleased with the effect his appearance had on the humans, he addressed me.

"Your wardrobe is far too empty for a lady of your stature. You can have free reign over the shops." I looked up at him in disbelief, my eyes widening at the prospect of shopping without a budget. He led me and our little entourage down to the designer shops, easily identified by their minimalistic shop windows and fewer clientele.

I chose out a veritable mountain of dresses as well as plenty of designer jeans and high heels that I daren't look at the prices of. Caius only smiled smugly as he handed over the credit card each time, without even looking at the total. Raising my eyebrow at him, I shook my head every time in disapproval of his blatant disregard for money. He only returned his smugness in tenfold.

The final shop we visited was, much to my embarrassment, a lingerie shop. If we had been here just as a couple, it wouldn't have been so bad, but hearing Demetri and Felix trying to hold in their giggles was a torture worse than anything.

"Is there nothing we can do to shut them up?" I pleaded with Caius, reaching peak shame levels.

"Sadly not," he growled under his breath, leading me into the shop, walls all clad with lace, silk and PVC. Whilst I was not opposed to the coquettish outfits sold by this proprietor, I'd rather only Caius know what I was interested in buying. Thank goodness, Demetri and Felix were ordered to wait outside of the shop, on pain of death.

Wandering around the establishment, I tried to keep my head as much as possible, not wanting Caius to know how flustered I was becoming at the thought of wearing some of these outfits in front of him.

Choosing out a pink silk negligee and matching briefs, I turned to show him my choice, but to my horror, was confronted with a tiny, see-through terror. The bra and thong that Caius showed to me were something out of a nightmare. They left  _ nothing _ to the imagination. The set's fabric was a kind of transparent lace, embroidered with patterns of roses.

Eyes bulging, I whispered hastily to him. "These won't last even one night and you know it, Caius, please!"

"That's the point. I'd love to see you in these, and out of them," he whispered with a dirty smile. Shaking my head, I added both of our choices to the basket, noting to give him shit at a later point about wasting money on such ephemeral items.

After picking out a few more pairs of lingerie, as well as matching black silk dressing gowns, we headed to the counter. The lady on the checkout thankfully kept a straight face and non-judgemental expression throughout our purchase. If she hadn't, I might've been forced to drink her blood in the hopes that no one found out what we'd bought from here, I was that embarrassed.

Instead of handing this bag to our bodyguards/clowns, Caius kept ahold of it, not wanting them to take a peek at its contents.

Returning to the car, however, we did not head back south west, instead we continued in the opposite direction. Travelling briefly through Slovenia, we arrived in Croatia and stopped just a couple of hours later in the seaside resort of Rijeka (no doubt getting there so quickly thanks to Dima's reckless driving). Showing the passports at the borders, the human guards let us through without question upon seeing the diplomatic stamp.

We disembarked in front of a nouveau style seafront apartment, the twilight air blowing refreshingly warm against my skin, carrying with it the warm smell of the Adriatic sea.

Caius took my hand and led me into the lobby of the building. There were two immaculately dressed humans working on the front desk, barely moving to the extent that they could have convinced me that they were vampires, if it weren't for their delicious smell.

Caius only had to show them our IDs for them to bow before us and usher our entourage towards the lifts, up to the penthouse apartment that for some reason, the Volturi owned.

As the lift drew nearer to the top floor, Demetri inhaled deeply and sighed, "you two are going to have a good night."

"They do smell quite appetising, don't they," I smiled in retort, inhaling the rich smells from above which were tainted with the sweet odour of alcohol. Caius kept a blank face whilst holding my hand, not giving anything away as always.

The lift arrived on our level and we all stepped out into the entrance hall which was decorated with black and gold. Nothing too over the top, but enough to make me realise that this one room was worth more than all the clothes Caius had bought for me today.

He led me through the extravagant wooden double doors, reminiscent of the ones present in Italy. Demetri and Felix followed us, placing their box of blood sachets on a table in the entrance hall.

As Caius and I entered the apartment, we walked into a wall of smells which ignited my thirst like gasoline. The addition of alcohol somehow seemed to make me more anxious to feed.

"Hold yourself back, my love, I promise you'll enjoy it," Caius whispered, placing his arms around my waist, stopping me from springing upon our human guests. He led me into the luxury penthouse apartment, which contained a bar in the dining room section.

The bar staff were human too, but within seconds, our bodyguards came by to offer them relief from their labour. Retiring towards the lift, they would undoubtedly be the last humans to leave this place alive.

The human guests became more and more drunk, as Caius showed me around the apartment. We had a gorgeous private suite, painted in the same black and gold. A king size bed with the finest black silk quilt stood in the centre of the candlelit bedroom. An ensuite with a giant walk-in shower complete with wooden banya seating adjoined our private quarters.

Returning back to the dining room, where our bodyguards were still entertaining our human guests, we sensed that they were nearing their limits, and we began to feed. They were too drunk to realise what we were doing to them, which made things easier.

My brain began to buzz from ingesting the incredible amount of alcohol in their bloodstreams. I didn't even think it was possible for a vampire to get drunk.**

Through my now slightly blurred vision, Caius seemed even more irresistible than normal. I couldn't help but imagine what I was going to do to him later.

Approaching the next most drunk looking human, I drained her of her blood, until she collapsed to the floor, dead. I didn't realise how good this cocktail of substances could taste. Although it was definitely too sweet for usual circumstances, it was pleasant enough for a special occasion. I felt my head begin to spin further.

Sneaking off to the bedroom, I changed into the lingerie that Caius had been so insistent I purchase. Even as a vampire with all of my human body's flaws supposedly fixed, I couldn't help but feel self-conscious as I scrutinised the outfit in the huge bathroom mirror. How could any  _ human _ feel comfortable wearing something like this? Luckily my drunkenness obscured most of the doubts I had as I pulled on my new black dressing down, its silk caressing my skin supportively.

Emerging back into the main room, I swaggered towards my partner, a cheeky smile plastered across my face.

"Hey, Cai, how are you?" I drawled, throwing one of my arms around my lover's shoulders.

"Lui, you're drunk already?" he asked with a smile, the usual barrier hiding his emotions a little more broken down than usual.

"Of course not! I'm just a bit tipsy, but I don't know why you should take me less seriously," I said with the most drunkenly serious expression I could manage.

Demetri and Felix retreated to their posts at the entrance to the penthouse and we shotted the last of the drunk humans. My throat now simmered in an oddly comforting way like a bubbling soup, nothing like the furnace that usually plagued me.

"So Cai, what should we do now?" I asked him stupidly, sitting on the vinyl floor, once all the humans had been finished. Reading the slightly unfocused glimpse in his eyes, I realised he was just as drunk as I.

"We amuse ourselves," he whispered in my ear as he pulled me up, embracing my waist, pulling my body against his. "Lui, you audacious little succubus, are you even wearing anything under this dressing gown?" he growled in my ear, trying to hide the arousal on his voice.

"Of course I am, Caius, I am a  _ lady _ after all," I winked, slipping the gown off from one of my shoulders and hinting at the skimpy little two-piece he'd bought for me earlier.

"Goodness me, signora," he said, flustered now, "I do believe that this is a matter for the bedroom," he winked back wickedly, picking me up in his arms, bridal style.

Carrying me over to our bed, trying to avoid slipping on some of the blood that we had spilt, Caius placed my body upon it, undoing the belt that held together my modesty. Unable to control my giggling, I let him scrutinise my body with his eyes as he stood at the foot of the bed undressing, fumbling on his belt, watching my every move with avaricious black eyes. Eyes that trawled my body, no doubt seeing every detail through the lingerie that left nothing to the imagination. Breathing in, I anticipated his assault upon my body, the first in nearly a millennium.

In a flash, his lips attacked mine and we both tasted the recently consumed blood upon each other, fuelling our addiction. His kiss drew me closer into him, becoming lost in the dimension of our passion.

Both of our hands explored each others' bodies, cherishing every curve and muscle. My legs snaked around his hips as he caressed the backs of my thighs, pulling me closer to him. Without holding back, I flipped us over so that he lay against the silky bed sheets. In all our time together, I'd never taken the lead. Maybe now was the time to change this.

I pinned his body to the bed with mine, as he bit the bra from me, squeezing and teasing my breasts that were now exposed to him. Grinding my hips against his in retaliation, he let out a snarl of impatience, suddenly digging his claws into my ass, ripping the flimsy underwear that shielded me from his wrath.

Hissing in return, I denied him the full pleasure of my wet-(with venom apparently)-ass pussy, moving my mouth down from his lips, biting at his neck. He let out an unexpected whimper of submissiveness as my teeth made contact with what would be his jugular if he were human. Chuckling to myself, I continued to tease the area with my mouth, not letting him forget the moment of weakness he'd shown to me, as my other hand teased his building arousal, somehow bigger than I remembered. Caius's hips still tried to thrust against mine, but I was in control now. The alcohol had made him sloppy, yet me more focused.

Unable to hold myself back anymore, I gently impaled myself upon him, flinching at the slight discomfort it caused me as he invaded my body, making me feel complete after all these years of romantic solitude. I had not experienced this feeling for a millennium, but goodness me, was it worth it now. His claws once again grabbed ahold of my hips, forcing me all the way down upon him, causing me to scream in elation as his dick violently hit my cervix.

In  _ my _ moment of weakness, Caius flipped me onto my back once more and positioned my legs over his shoulders.

"You certainly like to talk like a boss, Luíseach, but you really don't act like one," he whispered as he took dominance over my body, suffocating me with another kiss, muffling my moans of rapture as I felt each violent undulation guided by his hips; his free hand travelling between my legs, making me scream uncontrollably, overcome by his touch.

Not having him challenge my authority, I flipped him over again, taking the opportunity to tie his hands to the bedpost with the remains of the lingerie. I knew it wouldn't hold him for long, but I couldn't let such a perfect chance as this go to waste.

"You want boss? I'll give you boss, honey," I whispered in his ear, grabbing his throat and attacking his mouth again with mine, as my hips teased his manhood with a torturously slow rhythm. Playing along, he didn't fight the ties that bound him. Every time that he tried to increase our pace, I bit him on his neck, his chest, his nipples - each infliction eliciting a carnivorous growl.

"You're going to pay for this Luíseach," he threatened through gritted teeth.

"Hah, I'd like to see you try," I smirked, biting his nipple hard enough that his body's resulting convulsion nearly threw me off of him completely. Having had my sadistic fun for now I daren't untie him just yet, not quite ready to face Caius' full fury. The thought of this caused the tension that had built in my lower abdomen to become undone, tipping me into nirvana.

"Luíseach, let me cum, please," he panted, becoming evermore agitated at my purposefully moderate pace and the expression of ecstasy on my face. I placed my finger upon his lips, shushing him and dragged it down his rock hard chest, tracing over the many battle scars that he had gained over the years while I continued to deny him.

"Please!" he growled this time, pulling so hard he freed himself from my restraints. In a fraction of a second, his hands found my hips and using brute strength, he fucked me vigorously, hitting my G-spot with every thrust and forcing us both towards release. This second wave of bliss overshadowed the first, filling every atom of me with fulfillment. The look on Caius's face showed me that I was not alone in this feeling.

When we had both ridden out our respective orgasms, I collapsed upon Caius's chest. He turned to embrace me with a passion that was much more tender. Laying upon my lover, I absentmindedly began to caress his scars again, noticing how one particularly gnarly one on his left shoulder was slightly warmer than his usual temperate body temperature.

"Cai, what on earth happened to you?" I enquired, staring worriedly into his eyes as I caressed the scar. I hadn't remembered seeing that one before I left.

"Stinking werewolf - bastard tried to claw my head off," he scoffed with a chuckle. "We won't have to be worrying about any of  _ those _ anymore though," he reassured sadistically. "Luíseach, I've waited a millennium for you to return," he began, his now crimson irises never leaving mine. "Will you do me the honour of becoming my official mate? Will you marry me?"

I was speechless. Of course I wanted to! Was it just the post-coital hormones?

"Are you mad, Caius? Maybe you should think this through," I rebutted.

"Lui, I've had a thousand years to  _ think about it _ , and what I want is an eternity with you... and our subsequent family," he added with a laugh, stroking my dishevelled locks behind my ears.

"You'll have to give me some time to think about it," I smirked, grabbing him by the neck and flipping him over yet again, "you'll have to beg me for it," I whispered into his ear, and we didn't emerge from our penthouse for a week.

* * *

**I know Stephanie Meyer's vampires can't canonically get drunk, but just saying, they must have some sort of vascular system connected to their feeding which immediately supports their brain function, in order for their eyes to become red if they drink human blood. If the type of blood you eat affects your eye colour, your diet must directly affect your bodily functions in some way or another. Basically, I love the idea that drinking drunk blood makes you drunk ( _What We Do In the Shadows_ (TV series) made me crease way too much ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯).


	18. Chapter 18 - Descent

We'd barely been back at Volterra a month when the first incident occurred. Just as Caius had predicted, it was unavoidable that Aro would be interested in creating a hybrid child of his own.

Since our return from our little date, and my eventual acceptance of his proposal, Caius had become a lot more protective over me. His temper had surprisingly cooled but I guessed that the slightest sign of a threat upon his "mate" would make him fly off the handle.

One day as we were discussing possible hunting grounds with Heidi, Athanasia approached us, skipping down the corridor as effortlessly as if carried by the wind.

"Mum, dad, Heidi, we need to go to the throne room apparently, Aro's orders," she rhapsodised.

"Of course," we all agreed. Although I was none the wiser to why everyone was required to gather, for we had all fed but yesterday, it seemed as though Caius was hiding something behind his answer.

Making our way to the impromptu coven meeting in deathly silence, Caius held onto my hand a little tighter than usual, seemingly uneasy about the situation.

"Your eyes, by the way, change them back to red, it'll be easier to explain to the human," Caius muttered with a grimace. I gave him an exasperated look of confusion as to why Aro was deciding to break his own rules and let a human into our midst.

Letting go of the almost constant pull I allowed on my psyche to maintain my human eye colour, we stepped into the great hall. By this time, the whole guard was there apart from us. However, the first thing that we all noticed was the delicious warmth accompanied by the succulent, thudding beat of a human heart.

As soon as I saw the petite brunette human standing there, Aro's arm draped sleazily around her waist, I understood his plan. I wondered if he'd told Sulpicia about any of this...

"My brother Caius, Luíseach, Athanasia! So kind of you to join us!" he enthused. We only nodded in reply.

"I was just introducing young Nina here to our family, as she is to become part of it soon," Aro continued, however I doubted whether he actually meant that last part. It seemed the rest of the guard did too. The girl, Nina, looked timid but intrigued at the same time, her green eyes flitting nervously across all of our deathly, ruby-eyed faces.

She relaxed slightly upon sighting my daughter, noting her clearly more human appearance.

"A...Aro, is that-" she stuttered.

"-Yes that is her, mia adorata," Aro reassured in a more sugary voice than usual. "Luíseach, may young Nina here meet you and your daughter?" he addressed me now.

"Of course, Aro," I replied suspiciously, holding Athy's hand and stepping forwards at as human a speed as we could manage. Caius decided to accompany us, causing Nina to jump back in fright at his intensity. An almost inaudible snort erupted from the direction of Demetri and I tried to hide the smirk that dared play on my lips.

"Not to worry Nina, Caius here is just very protective over his family, as he should be," Aro consoled the now nearly quivering woman. Her heartbeat began to slow down but kept up an anxious pace.

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just very overwhelmed, il mio amore," she whispered again, clinging to Aro and seemingly unaware that everyone standing in the room could hear what she was saying.

I sneaked a look up at Caius and we each raised an eyebrow.

"I take it we won't be telling her that I was already a vampire when we conceived Athy?" I asked in as quiet and fast a whisper as I could muster. Caius nodded in agreement.

"As you already know, mia bella Nina, it is possible for a vampire like me and a human like you to conceive a child of miracles, like my brother and Luíseach here did. This is their daughter Athanasia. You may notice that she's inherited a mix of traits from both of her parents," Aro explained again in his newfound sweet voice. Maybe this is why Sulpicia preferred to stay locked in a tower.

"And Caius made her immortal afterwards?" Nina asked hesitantly, looking between the three of us, her eyes lingering upon mine.

"Yes Nina," I said in what I thought was a friendly voice, but her heartbeat only increased in speed. I felt a little guilty at misleading this young woman. She seemed eager to become a vampire too, but all of us understood that it was going to be an impossibility. Especially because of the inviting aroma that poured from her jugular. I was sure that everyone else in the room, even Athanasia, was experiencing unimaginable thirst right now.

After our little meeting, I decided to stay behind in the throne room, in the hopes that I'd finally get the opportunity to speak to Athenodora. She'd been dismissed from the tower which had imprisoned her and Sulpicia for all of these years, however, Aro had not let her depart the grounds. That, or she'd willingly chosen to remain here.

Athenodora had supposedly opted to stay and work for the guard and had assumed a very prestigious role in reparation for her service to the coven. Caius had tried to stop me from speaking to her, but I decided it was best to clear the air sooner rather than later, especially if he and I were to be married soon. She seemed to pick up on my intentions too, lingering in the tenebrous far corner, as Athy and Chelsea were exiting the room.

Approaching the fragile-looking blonde, I noticed how much more powdery her skin appeared in comparison to that of the others, a sign of her extensive interment in the tower. I also noticed what made her look so fragile. Her wrists and elbows were marred by pale lines similar to the scars I possessed on mine from my training days. Scars that could only be left on our skin by a vampire's venom.

Suppressing the snarl that built in my throat caused by the anger I felt towards my fiance for doing this to his own wife, I continued towards her. Had my supposed soulmate truly been so violent towards this woman, or could she have been so injured through fighting alone?

"Thank you for returning," the blonde spoke in a surprisingly warm tone.

"Thank you for not ripping me to shreds," I replied, suspicious of the kindness in her voice.

"I'm sure we both know very well that I won't be the one doing that to you," she continued, her hand flinching towards her wrist. I knew that Caius was violent when he wanted to be, but I felt disappointment and pity flood my mind seeing the result of his anger upon someone who clearly didn't find any enjoyment in that kind of thing. Not only that, but I felt a tickling doubt arise from deep within my mind. Although I felt safe around him for now, could he turn against me?

She read my face and smiled timidly.

"He never used to be  _ that _ bad," she began with a half-smile, but in a voice that was closer to a whisper. "Not until you left."

"I should have come back sooner," I said apologetically, letting the guilt overwhelm my trepidation.

"I don't blame you, Luíseach, even though I'm not your biggest fan. I loved him, you know, and he loved me," she said, surprisingly no venom in her voice as she pronounced my name, "but it was  _ him _ who couldn't control himself. Most vampires would turn into a mindless husk like Marcus if their mate left, but not Caius."

"Maybe I'm  _ not _ his mate then," I said without thinking. It was a question I'd had on my mind throughout Athanasia's upbringing. Although I had  _ missed _ the companionship that he brought, protecting my daughter had taken the forefront of my attention.

"Of course you are," she reassured, "you just don't see how he changes when you're not around. He's practically an angel right now."

"I wish I'd known, to save you the ordeal at least," I lamented, slightly annoyed that Marcus had neglected to tell me the extent of the bond between Caius and I.

"Now at least I can rule as I have wished these many years instead of sitting in a tower living a delusion," she spoke with passion. "I didn't want to stay, but Aro convinced me to. I've been a part of this world for longer than he. Plus I happen to be close friends with his wife. Staying is the least I can do," she added.

"Speaking of which, does Sulpicia know of his plans to create a hybrid child?" I interrogated, trying to hide my growing unease at my partner's actions.

"Of course, though she is not content," Athenodora replied with a frown decorating her delicate features, her lips pursed. "But what can she do about it? When Aro wants something, he'll have it and then make up his excuses afterwards. He promised her that she can raise the baby," Athenodora sighed, the scars on her face even more present now. A faint line led from the right corner of her mouth to her hairline. Another surrounded her nose entirely, implying that she'd lost the appendage at some point.

"Trust me, I don't know why he's so obsessed with hybrids," I continued.

"Oh, you weren't there to see the Volturi's humiliation," she continued in her all-knowing voice. "The Cullens made fools of us all. I'm not sure if you've heard from anyone, but we're barely hanging on to our reputation right now," she chuckled melancholically. "Any chance he has to regain some honour, Aro will take right now; that's why he won't let me go, nor you, nor your daughter," she scoffed, though her venom was not directed at my family.

"All about the power…" I whispered, understanding the quicksand we were all in. But more importantly, my nerves still ablaze by the extent of the scars on Athenodora's skin. My feelings of loyalty to Caius were now in an all-out battle with my self-preservation instincts. Trying to convince myself that during her many years as an immortal, Athenodora could have obtained them from some spat with the Romanians, or even a werewolf. I tried to kid myself that they weren't the doing of her ex-husband.

Nodding agitatedly, Athenodora turned to look at me in the eye again.

"You know, I wanted you to suffer at first, Luíseach. You stole my companion from me. But now, I feel nothing but pity, at what he plans for you. At least I have no power. I only have my past to give, whereas you have only your future. That's if you even survive being married to him," she smiled bittersweetly. Despite everything in me wanting to believe she was bluffing out of jealousy, I could not help but remember my discussion with Aro on the eve after my return, plus the numerous occasions in which Caius had been more than happy to rip off one of my limbs. If he was so content to do such a thing to someone he was supposedly closely bonded to like Athenodora, why would he not do the same to me in a moment of rage? I could not think straight - my brain was overcome by conflict.

Trying not to show any indication of my doubts to my senior, I bade her good day and left to keep a close eye on Athanasia and Oktai.

Luckily, that night, the gossip in the castle was at an all time high, distracting me from my thoughts of betrayal. Demetri had already placed a bet against Felix that Nina would not survive the night. The result of which we all had to endure.

I tried to avoid the worst of it by taking a walk in the nighttime gardens with Athanasia, away from Caius to calm my still-brewing fury. Jane and Renata also haunted the rose garden along with us. Athy and Jane had been getting on strangely well despite their age difference. Under the playful and theatrical personality that she loved to portray to the world, Athanasia was more vampire than most.

Both of them enjoyed using and at times abusing their powers, especially against their prey. Renata however, was more conservative. Chelsea had messed with her loyalties so much that she cared for not much else besides protecting Aro. She was very anxious to get back to him right now and we'd had to coax her away from spying through the keyhole with the promise of food. Sadly, Oktai seemed to be taking a little too long for her liking.

Just as Renata was about the zip off to check on her master, we heard the sound of five heartbeats approaching alongside the familiar scent of Oktai. We heard their voices before anything else, five women. They all seemed to be infatuated with my son-in-law, Athy was going to be pissed; a scowl her father would be proud of shrouded her usually pleasant expression. I frowned, thinking of him.

As soon as her mate entered with the five women, she ran over to him, completely disregarding any care for playing a human role.

"They haven't been harassing you, have they, darling?" she growled, staring daggers at each of the girls who seemed overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the blonde.

"Nothing you can't deal with, my love," Oktai chuckled, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey I thought you said it'd just be your band-!" one of the young girls began to complain, but her betrayed pleas were replaced by screams of agony as Jane stepped forwards, her usual cold-blooded grin upon her face.

The other girls had too begun to realise the terror of their situation and tried to run back towards the now locked gates, but to no avail. The screaming began from Renata's meal and as we all feasted, the voices began to die out, until just one remained; screaming as Jane tortured her and Athanasia hypnotised her.

"If you can withstand the pain without begging for death, little one, then I will change you into one of us," charmed Athanasia, staring through the human's slightly clouded-over eyes. The human nodded and then snapped out of her trance. I knew full well this schtick and would have stopped her if not to distract my ears from other events was welcomed. I'd never been a fan of tasting fear in peoples' blood, I much preferred the zest that infatuation seemed to add.

Entering the castle after our meal, we noticed the remainder of our coven gathered in the reception area.

"He shouldn't choose the human just based on the smell of her blood next time," Demetri taunted Felix smugly, punching his arm. "Looks like I'll be able to get my new Lambo after all," he chuckled as Felix handed him a large stack of notes.

Escaping from the group during the fuss, I spied Caius and Oktai exit quickly into the library. I remembered my feelings of disgust at this point, feeling foolish that I'd ever trusted myself to show myself to him at my weakest.

I snarled under my breath as they passed me, but neither paid me the slightest bit of attention.

"Hey, mum, what's wrong," Athy asked, the concern that graced her features snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Nothing really, darling. I just reckon they're up to something," I invented quickly. Thankfully, Athy played along with my lie.

"Yeah, I bet dad wants to start planning your wedding," she giggled, nudging me in the ribs. The word "dad" hit me like a train, reminding me that I had so stupidly and readily given myself to such a monster. And now, I had subjected my daughter to having someone like him as a father. And now, because of my weakness, I had led us into a nightmare with no escape.

"Whoah, mum, are you okay?" she asked again, grabbing my arm as if I was about to attack something, puzzled by my irrational reaction to what should be the happiest day of my life.

"I'm sorry Athy, I just need a few minutes alone," I growled, waiting for Oktai to reemerge. As soon as he had, I burst into the library, ready to confront Caius alone.

I rushed towards my so-called mate, anger in my heart. When I reached him, he looked up from a book on medieval surgeries with a smile.

"Right, I need to have a word with you, Caius," I started with an attitude.

"What is it my love?" he replied innocently.

"Don't you dare call me that. I've been speaking with your ex-wife and I happened to notice all of the scars on her arms, let alone the ones on her face. Are they  _ your _ doing?" I enquired, feeling my simmering rage start to come to the boil. He paused, regarding my furious face.

"Yes, but you know more than anyone that's what I enjoy," he replied with a feigned innocence.

"Of course it's what  _ you _ enjoy, but is it what  _ she _ enjoyed?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Maybe not exactly, but you have to understand we were in love at that point, we were already bonded and she'd do  _ anything _ for me back then. You'd left already a century before! I had to get over my feelings somehow!"

"Are you sure, she seems pretty regretful that she's tainted with your mark forevermore. Surely there are better things to do than dismember someone you care about," I pushed, knowing I was hitting a nerve in both of us.

"Luíseach, you promised to return! You left it a millennium! I thought you'd died, what other choice did I have? Become like Marcus?" he replied.

"Don't worry, I'm not angry at you for sleeping with your  _ wife _ , I'm angry at you for exploiting her as you did. You could have legitimately killed her!" I yelled at this point.

"I'd rather kill her than live an eternity without you," he shouted back, grabbing my arms and pushing me violently against the stone wall, the force knocking a dozen books from the nearby shelves.

"Then why don't you?" I spat, disgustedly.

"Aro says she's clean," he replied.

"As if, she hates you for what you've done to her and me for wrecking her marriage!"

" _ We're _ meant to be getting married, Luíseach! You're my soulmate, I know it and so do you!" he pleaded incredulously, his grip constricting my arms even more, leaving me unable to move.

"Hah!" I spat venomously, "and if I  _ do _ marry you, how long will it be until you end up killing me? Ripping me to pieces and burning the remains because you "can't bear the suffering you've put me through" or whatever excuse it is that dickheads like that use? You've really not got the best track record, I should have seen it from the start when you were willing to cheat on Athenodora!" I roared.

"Can't you see this is what Aro wants! He's put her up to this. He's got her to cosy up with you to get you to hate me so he can make you have his spawn!" Caius yelled back.

"And even if it is, you think I'd just  _ agree _ to something like that? Either way, you think I'm  _ that _ petty? He's just as bad, locking up his own wife so he can go and knock up some humans."

"Of  _ course  _ he's just as bad," Caius growled, "we're  _ all _ vampires, you included. You don't care about every human you've eaten do you?"

"As true as that is, I thought we were meant to be soulmates, Caius, that's what you've told me over and over again. I thought you valued my opinion, but you're obviously just some fuckboy who'll say anything to get me to do your bidding." He didn't answer. To me, his silence spoke a thousand words, none of them to my liking. His grip slackened and I was finally able to move. "So it's all fucking true, save your excuses, coward. Consider our engagement cancelled," I hissed.

"Luíseach," he whispered.

"Stay away from me," I threatened, stalking off, shoving him into the wall, ready to kill something, the anger consuming my body whole.

I'd never felt so truly betrayed or furious in my vampire life. Although he didn't deny his abuse, it made it all the more disturbing to me. I didn't want to put my life, or that of my daughter on the line for that. My instincts were completely flipping out, urging me as far away from him as possible. Not even my rationality could defend Caius's untamed wishes to destroy another of our kind without proper provocation.

Unable to deal with my rage, I knew I had to leave the city, at least for a bit. I only wanted to do one thing right now and that was eat. Holding my breath until I was outside of Volterra, I found a brothel in the downtown area of some small town. Kicking down the door, I devoured the pimp that came to inspect the disturbance, biting clean into his neck. He was a big boy. That meant more blood for me. Pushing aside the taste of tobacco in his bloodstream, I drained him in minutes. Entering further into the establishment, I continued to feed upon customers, clients and employees all the same, my betrayal reigniting my burning hunger every time I thought it extinguished.

Normally, I would have felt guilt for murdering this many, but the rage that Caius now instilled in me neutralised every feeling of remorse I had and refreshed my ancient body with the thirst of a newborn. No matter how much I drank, I could not satisfy my desires. My throat still burned with thirst even after drinking a year's worth of blood in one night.

Returning to Volterra, my throat still ablaze, I felt like a completely different person.


	19. Chapter 19 - Impending Doom

Caius was thankfully no longer in the castle upon my return. He'd left on an urgent mission with Santiago and Demetri and was not due back for at least a month. Glad of the respite, my temper and thirst had a chance to cool off in his absence.

Oktai refused to tell me what he and Caius had been discussing in the library before my outburst, as it apparently concerned the top-secret mission. Although anything to do with my supposed mate at this point disgusted me, I would rather be in the know. My son-in-law's refusal to tell me anything, despite my many attempts to find out, made me extremely envious of Aro's power and I wished I had the ability to mimic his gift.

The following week brought with it yet more drama, however. Aro had managed to seduce another human lady, who unfortunately shared the same fate as Nina. Strangely, I'd always had Aro down as quite good in the self-control department, but the stress of producing a hybrid must have been getting to him. Perhaps this was why such children were so rare, if a three-thousand-year-old vampire couldn't even stop himself from killing the human during intercourse, then what chance did any other vampire stand?

After this incident, I came up with a plan - a plan to hopefully remain in Aro's good books. After all, there was one human we all knew who would secretly give anything to become a vampire.

The modelesque receptionist was surprisingly ballsy for a gazelle living with a pride of lions. Her respect for bureaucracy had evidently kept her living longer than most.

I approached the bespectacled lady, confident that I wouldn't even need the persuasion of my daughter to help convince her. I walked towards the desk at which she sat, diligently copying up the week's records, flicking her wavy light brown hair every so often, wafting her inviting scent in my direction as if taunting me.

She didn't look up until I had reached the desk and cleared my throat. Her hazel eyes met my frosty blue ones with a look of pleasant surprise.

"Zala, right?" I began with a fake smile, holding out my hand for her to shake.

"Yes, ma'am, Zala K. Hrastnik at your service," she replied, taking it, her linguistic abilities flowing through me. Slovenian.

"Oprosti, nisva se še spoznala," [ _ Sorry, we haven't been properly introduced _ ] I began.

"Znaš Slovenski jezik?" [ _ You know Slovenian? _ ] she replied with surprise.

"Seveda, draga moja. [ _ of course, my dear _ ] But let us talk business. I know that you wish to become one of us," I continued in her mother tongue, in the most inconspicuous whisper I could manage.

"N-no of course not!" she whispered back defensively, as if she thought she could hide her voice from any prying ears.

"Don't be silly, draga moja. Why would you  _ not _ want such a gift as immortality? You don't have to hide it from me," I tried to reassure her. Zala remained silent, her eyes trying to inspect my expression. She didn't seem to immediately find the innocence for which she searched.

"I think I might have found a way to make that possible, as unpleasant as it may be..." I added, tempting her further.

"Okay, okay, you got me. Of course I want to be immortal, ma'am-" she began.

"-Please, just call me Luíseach, or Lui if you will. There's no need for formalities here," I continued.

"Well, I always thought that if I admitted that fact, I'd just end up as dessert. I'd rather earn my place in the coven, rather than beg for it, Lui," she shrugged with nervous confidence, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

"They don't let just anyone in on the secret. They didn't even tell me the truth until I was already a vampire! I'm sure if you prove yourself worthy, you'll get what you want," I encouraged, surprisingly feeling little guilt in deceiving her. It was either her or me.

"So, Lui, what do you suggest?" Zala asked, the nervous smile on her face revealing a flash of ambition.

"Well, you know how Aro has been introducing us to a lot of humans recently? Especially human  _ women _ ?" She nodded. "He's trying to create a hybrid," I whispered scandalously.

Zala's eyes now hungry with curiosity, she leaned in closer, ready for more gossip. "Is that even possible?" she asked, taking the bait.

"Yes, but no one has been strong enough so far. I think it's because they weren't properly mentally prepared to become a vampire," I said, putting on my best acting skills, knowing full well it was all Aro's fault the women had not survived and not the women's.

"So you think that if I have his child, he'll turn me into one of you?" Zala asked, the passion blazing ever brighter.

"Aro will want you around afterwards to help take care of the baby, so he'll definitely change you," I said, "and I can't see him wanting to lose such a diligent employee - it's a win-win situation!" Acknowledging the anxiety that still lingered on her face, I added, "I went through this myself with Caius, don't worry," I flinched upon mentioning his name, "I can explain everything to you to make sure you're comfortable with it before you decide."

Zala thought over my proposition for a moment and then seemed to come to some sort of resignation.

"If I did happen to agree to carry this hybrid child, how would I go about proposing the idea?" she asked tentatively.

"Not to worry. If you consent, then I can make the suggestion to Aro. I'm sure he'll greatly appreciate your willingness to help out in such an important matter. After all, you're a part of this coven and we all have a duty to serve," I smiled.

"Okay, but what is the pregnancy like? Surely the baby would be much stronger than a normal human. Will I have to start eating raw meat? If so, my family owns a farm with a huge herd of goats," she began. When she had eventually stopped ranting about the many superior qualities of goat meat, I was able to explain all that I knew. From the unbelievable thirst for blood, the fact the whole ordeal only lasted about a month, but most importantly, how the baby would bite its way out. Thanks to her opportunity to rave about goats, not even this seemed to put her off. Knowing that she would be one step closer to her goal of immortality seemed to make the challenge seem all the more appealing.

Aro was initially sceptical at my suggestion, as he wasn't ready to search for another secretary, especially one as competent as Zala, though agreed that this might actually work having become accustomed to her scent for a while.

To everyone's surprise, and my relief, Zala survived the conception. Aro appointed me to guard her and filled me in on exactly what happens when a human carries such a child. It looked as though this month would be a very grim one for Zala indeed.

Zala, on the other hand, seemed extremely confident in her physical strength.

"Us Hrastniks are usually very large babies. I weighed over 6kg (13lbs 4oz), but my brothers were bigger. Trust me, Lui, I may not look strong enough, but if my ancestors could do it, so can I," she scoffed as she sat at her desk, professional as always. Although I doubted any of her ancestors had carried a half-monster baby, Zala's confident optimism could only bode well.

Throughout the next week, most would have doubted that the receptionist was pregnant. It seemed as though the Hrastnik family may indeed be strong enough to carry out such a task. The only things that gave her away were the large bottle of blood which stood in the place of her usual glass of water and the bucket which sat next to the recycling bin behind her desk. Every so often, without any warning, Zala would sit up from her paperwork, scoff disgustedly at the distraction and throw up into her bucket; going straight back to her work afterwards.

Despite all of my recommendations to sit back and relax, the woman was having none of it.

"What will you all do without me? I'm running an extremely tight operation here and it'd take a year to explain my filing system to a  _ human _ ," she complained.

"Well, why don't you teach it to me, so if you have to take a day off, I can fill in for you," I suggested, finding myself worried about what stress the constant work was putting on the baby.

"Of course, I could - if I wanted to give up this easily," she reassured arrogantly, taking a moment to throw up into her bucket. I was still not used to her bluntness. Most humans would have been phased in the presence of an imperishable being who could eat her in an instant, but Zala was always so self-assured. She would make for an interesting immortal. It was unfortunate that Aro had no intention of changing her, seeing as her child had already been promised to Sulpicia.

As the next week passed, Zala began to need assistance to move herself about, despite the fact she'd start an argument whenever I tried to help her. Aro also decided to start becoming more involved in his unborn child's life; even Sulpicia had left her tower and begun haunting the throne room with her ghostly presence.

It was thanks to our around-the-clock monitoring that we found the bruises on Zala's stomach.

"Zala, how long has the baby been leaving these bruises?" I asked in shock, trying to ignore the smell of the blood that gathered in the multiple contusions.

"A few days, nothing to worry about. Same thing happened with my brothers apparently. It just means he's an active one," she stuttered, patting her tummy in satisfaction as I carried her to the bathroom.

"You know I'm going to have to tell Aro about this, right," I clarified, knowing she hated him fussing over her.

"Please don't, Lui, he acts as though I'm going into labour every time you tell him of a new development. There's really no need. The amount he worries makes me think he actually cares for my well-being. I thought this was meant to be purely a political arrangement," she dismissed again, rolling her eyes. I couldn't help but become more curious about her character. Was she truly putting on such an act to hide her intimidation at living with a bunch of vampires? If so, she hid it extremely well. Her heartbeat certainly gave nothing away.

"How are you so calm around us, Zala?" I asked, unable to stifle my curiosity.

"You're joking right?" she asked doubtingly, "I always thought I was quite the mess. Though, my father always prided himself on how rigorously he raised us all, so it's good to hear that my upbringing had some sort of effect," she continued with a rare smile.

"No, really, most people can't hide such things. Even if their face reveals nothing, their heartbeat will. You're always so rational. Well,  _ too _ rational, almost like you don't really believe we're vampires or something," I laughed.

"Huh, well I'm glad that I've found something I'm good at besides paperwork. Thank you Lui, you've made my day. Besides, I've got to keep positive for this little one. Would you agree to become his godmother when he's born?"

Completely taken aback by Zala's out-of-the-blue question, I hesitated too long before making my response. I didn't think that anything I'd done over these few weeks that would warrant such a title.

"I don't want to force you into it, Lui. I just feel like someone with as much life experience as you would be able to teach him a lot," she added, the first signs of vulnerability I'd sensed within her now becoming blindingly obvious. Her heartbeat increased in speed and I had to make a conscious effort to hold my breath, forgetting that I needn't keep up the facade of being a living human.

"No, Zala, of course I will. It would be an honour," I replied, smiling privately to myself. I couldn't deny how much I'd come to respect this lady in the week and a half I'd been watching over her. She had to have the most no-nonsense attitude I'd ever seen in a human. I would definitely have to try and change Aro's mind regarding her disposal.

I made sure that Zala went to sleep without stressing her baby out too much. This lady certainly challenged most perceptions I had of humans. She had the nerve to live amongst the supernatural and didn't let her emotions cloud her judgement. As much as I wished not to admit it, I'd grown somewhat attached to this interesting human and I really wished to see her survive. As she slept, I heard two pairs of approaching footsteps which slowed as they neared the door to the room. Getting up from my seat on the end of Zala's bed, I let the guests in.

Aro stepped into the pitch dark room, Sulpicia floating in after him. I took his hand to fill him in on the day's events. He undoubtedly saw the bruises, as well as the realisation that my will to protect Zala now surpassed that of pure duty.

His face, in contrast to his usual arrogant smile, seemed anguished in some way and I felt the need to comfort him.

"She'll make it, you know, Aro. I'm almost certain she'd be a gifted immortal too," I whispered reassuringly.

"You think so? The only reason the Cullen girl made it was because she loved the other mind-reader so much," he replied, never taking his eyes off Zala's swollen stomach. He was not the only one. Sulpicia's spectral gaze was also fixed on the sleeping form of her surrogate as she stood as silent as ever at her husband's side.

"You've never heard one of her monologues on her family history, then," I laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"Clearly not," he frowned, gliding over to the bedside, stroking Zala's belly, trying to get a read on the baby's thoughts.

"I really think you should reconsider turning her. She has some weird kind of fearlessness around us all," I said.

"That will not be happening, Luíseach. My husband has assured me that the child will be raised by me. Our coven already has many talented individuals; losing one potential candidate won't hurt," Sulpicia replied. I was yet to hear her speak in all the time I had resided in the palace, but her voice was unexpectedly harsh for someone of her beauty.

"As much as I believe every word of your premonition, Luíseach, I'm afraid that I have indeed promised my wife the opportunity to become a mother. I will not deny my queen this privilege," Aro muttered into the obscurity, despite his attention still focused on his unborn child. "And I don't know whether it's fearlessness, or delusion," he continued, the frustration in his voice reflecting his failure in reading the baby's thoughts. "You two seem to have struck up quite a friendship," he said out of the blue.

"I guess you could call it that," I replied coldly, realising my attempts to change his mind were futile in the presence of his wife.

"You've definitely taken to your role as her carer very well," he smiled back, "keep up the good work, Luíseach," he said, as he placed his hand momentarily on my shoulder before leaving the room with his wife.

As the third week melted into the fourth, I was continually amazed by how well Zala was coping. I'd finally convinced her to teach me the secrets of her mysterious filing system. However, Athanasia had not yet been able to catch Aro alone to be able to change his mind regarding Zala’s fate.

"Lui, there's really no need for you to take over," Zala protested as I sat in her usual spinny-chair.

"Zala, you look like a literal zombie," I argued, "for the health of the baby and yourself, you need to rest. If you refuse to get any rest, I won't be his godmother," I forcefully told the woman. "I don't care how many Hrastniks have gone through this, none of them have ever had a child with a vampire, so get some goddamn rest, child," I shouted. She let me carry her to her bedroom without argument and I returned to manning the desks in her place.

As I was just about to leave the human in peace, she spoke to me.

"Lui you  _ will _ turn me if Aro forgets, right?"

"Of course, Zala," I promised, feeling the sting of guilt of knowing full well, if Aro didn't want it to be, I'd have no say whatsoever.

Things began to look up a couple of days later when my daughter came skipping towards the reception. The optimism on her face suggested that she had been successful in carrying out the mission I had given her.

"Athanasia, how are you today," I greeted her. I was thankful for her presence as she always made me feel a little more at ease.

"Hey, mum, what's occurring? I just came to let you know that the deed is done," she smiled radiantly. Overwhelmed with relief, I leapt over the desk and embraced my daughter.

“Thank you, fy mach i, you’ve done a marvellous job, just as always.”

“No problem, mum. But how come you care for this human so much? If she was going to be  _ that _ gifted, wouldn’t Aro want to turn her anyway?” Athy asked.

“I don’t know, my love. I guess it’s just intuition - like with Oktai,” I replied. “I often think of what would have happened if I’d let you kill him the first time we met.”

“I understand,” Athy said with a small chuckle, “I guess it’d be nice not being the only one who’s gone through that...”

“I’m sure the same applies to you, Athy. Neither of us have ever met anyone like you before. For so long, I thought you were just the result of my power, but knowing that there are others like you; it makes me hopeful that you won’t feel so alone,” I admitted. My daughter’s face lit up with emotion and she hugged me.

Her warmth conveyed not only tenderness, but a hint of her vulnerability. I wished that she did not feel so isolated, so different, but we were both close to finding a companion in our eccentricity.

Our small moment of tranquility was destroyed by a bloodcurdling scream coming from the direction of Zala's room. Rushing onto the scene of the disturbance, we joined Aro and Sulpicia who were already in the room.


	20. Chapter 20 - Divine Gift

Athanasia and I burst into the room, rushing to Zala's side and within a second, a whole entourage of other vampires joined us. Renata ran to join her master and Corin glided over habitually towards Sulpicia. Chelsea carried with her a pile of warm towels, but kept her distance from the bed on which Zala lay.

Heidi, Jane and Alec stayed hovering curiously by the door and Athenodora was barely visible beyond the threshold. However, focusing my attention on the epicentre of the panic, I took Zala's hand as she flinched again, grunting in pain, Athy staying close to my side. Aro moved to sit further up the bed, anxiety dominating his expression and Sulpicia loomed over Zala menacingly, arms folded impatiently.

"Show me what you felt, Zala," Aro urged, taking her hand in his, stress oozing through every syllable. After a moment, his face lit up and he addressed the attendees.

"Chelsea, stand by with the towels. Alec, ensure that the human feels nothing," he instructed.

"Of course, master," they replied, nervously stepping closer to the bed.

"Wait, what are you getting him to do Aro?" Zala asked in a panic.

"That's 'master' to you, human," Sulpicia growled.

"Not to worry, tesoro mio, she's in a lot of pain at the moment, we must be considerate," he calmed his wife. "Zala, Alec is going to make sure you don't feel anything while I deliver the baby." She nodded in approval and all discomfort that had been present on her face disappeared as the grey vapour emitted from Alec's hands surrounded her.

I squeezed her hand in encouragement and she smiled nervously back.

"Are you ready?" I whispered, knowing it would not be long until Athy was no longer the odd-one-out of the coven. Plus, it would be a relief to not want to eat my newest friend all the time.

Zala smiled back and nodded again. It seemed as though the whole ordeal had taken away her usual whit. She squeezed my hand weakly again.

"Please, just do it. I can't stand the anticipation anymore," she stuttered. Although she could feel no pain at the moment, the baby had been putting more and more pressure on her body each day - even if she didn't like to admit it.

Aro warned everyone to hold their breath or leave the room, not wanting there to be any complications. After a moment, he began to bite. I hadn't held my breath out of pride and it was clear a few others had done so too. As soon as the scent of scarlet nectar hit my nose, I regretted not heeding Aro's advice. A number of others had leaned in closer to get a better smell whilst some like Corin and Heidi left the room in a hurry to avoid risking it.

I fought through the thirst, for the sake of my friend, as did Athy, whose hand had grasped mine a little tighter.

The grating, screeching sound of ripping vampiric skin filled the room and I knew that the deed was almost done. Even whilst being carried by a human mother, it seemed as though hybrids were still protected by immortal tissue. The sound irritated my sensitive hearing and brought to the surface the memories of the murders I had carried out to protect my daughter's secret. Surely I had a motive for each of these incidences, unlike Caius… A shiver going down my spine at the evocation of my own not-so-infallible-immortality, I focused my attention on the present.

The sound had thankfully stopped, but the blood had not. Even the sight of it was enough to further kindle my thirst.

"Athy, close your eyes," I whispered, knowing that she was unable to hold her breath like the rest of us. She already had, not wanting to put herself through the pain of temptation.

Zala remained unnaturally silent during this time, despite her being able to witness the whole ordeal. Hrastniks were abnormally strong humans indeed. Even in my human life, I avoided anything that involved sacrifices, yet this lady was as cool as a cucumber whilst witnessing her own dissection.

In one swift movement, Aro retrieved the baby from within Zala and Chelsea chucked him a towel, never stopping to look at the bloodbath, though I didn't blame her. Swaddling the baby boy in the blanket, Aro cradled his child. Sulpicia showed the first traces of emotion I'd seen from her this whole month, leaning in to kiss the infant on his forehead, smiling as the baby's hazel eyes met her red ones.

"Can I… can I hold him?" Zala choked, unable to move, thanks to the open wound. Aro just laughed at her incredulously.

"Go ahead, la mia amante," he said and Sulpicia bit into Zala's wrist.

"Aro, what are you doing!" I hissed upon seeing the colour begin to drain from Zala's body.

"Mum, I'm so sorry," Athanasia whispered in my ear as I looked on in rage. But I knew that this was news to her too. Neither of us had even considered that her gift would be able to disrupt a promise from soulmate to soulmate…

"I'm sorry Luíseach. A newborn mother and a half-human child is never a good idea," he shrugged, taking the baby boy further from his dying mother.

In a last moment attempt to stop this from happening, I went to bite Zala's neck. Aro was too fast.

"Jane!" he commanded.

"But master-" she began to protest.

"I don't care what he told you, I am the head of this coven and you will obey me," he boomed. Just as my teeth had bitten into Zala, my body was ripped away into a convulsion of mind-bending pain only comparable with the evolution into an immortal. The blaze engulfed my body and I could no longer see the room clearly; I was back inside the tree hollow nearly two thousand years ago. From the obscurity, I heard the distant voice of my daughter calling to me, "bite her mum! Bite her!" she screamed, but I could barely hear her over my own screams of pain. Jane had certainly refined her skill over the last millenia.

I felt something be pushed into my mouth and then my daughter's voice again, "bite her, mum! Bite-" before she was cut off by her own screams of terror. I bit, hoping that Athy's agony would be stopped if I obeyed her voice. The venom welled up in my mouth out of anger at both Aro's betrayal and my daughter's suffering, and flowed into the person I'd bitten. That's all I could focus on to stop the inferno. However, this did not stop Athanasia's torture.

I heard other distant voices. Loudest of them all was Aro's. The fury rendered my mind somehow clearer.

"Luíseach, if you don't stop biting, I'm going to have to get Caius to punish you," he growled. I had to let go. I relinquished my bite and the room came back into focus. Athanasia lay motionless on the floor next to me. I reeled again as I felt Chelsea pull my loyalties closer to Aro.

I was kneeling on the floor, the now pale arm of Zala laying limp in front of my face, marred by a deep bite mark. Jane, the child I had once considered to be one of my own stood guiltily before my daughter and I.

"Mistress Luíseach, I'm so sorry, I promised Caius that I would never-". Her apology was interrupted by a backhand by Aro which knocked the child to the floor.

"You've said enough, my child, now report to the hunting party, I'm sure they'll appreciate your presence," he continued coldly. Jane scuttled out of the room, followed by Chelsea, and I rushed over to Athy to try and revive her. Thankfully she was still breathing, but she twitched every now and again as I held her.

"I apologise for my use of force, Luíseach, but it was a necessary precaution," he softly spoke, kneeling down in front of me as I held Athy's unconscious form closer to me. "I truly admire your dedication to the betterment of our coven, but I'm afraid I have already made plans for which you were regretfully not present to hear," he continued, tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. I shivered with discomfort, but Chelsea's influence left me unwilling to attack him.

"Then why punish my daughter too. The indiscretion was mine alone, not hers," I growled under my breath.

"Speaking of whom, I must remember to commend her on her gift when she awakens. She very nearly had me convinced. I thought it laughable that any child of yours would not inherit  _ some  _ kind of ability," he continued delicately. "Tell her that she is welcome to come and spend time with my son whenever she likes - as a consolation."

"She'll be delighted to hear that," I grimaced through gritted teeth. "Have you decided on a name yet?" I enquired, forcing a smile.

"My queen has quite taken to the name Theodotis," he said. "I'm very glad that you can see sense now, Luíseach. We would all be delighted if your family could join the rest of the coven in the dungeons - to make sure you're not excluded this time around," he added with a smarmy grin plastered upon his face and vacated the room.

I turned my attention to my daughter's barely stirring body.

"Athy, ATHY, are you okay?!" I yelled. As if on cue, Oktai appeared at the door.

"What on earth happened to her?" he implored.

"It's all my fault, I didn't foresee that she couldn't convince Aero. She tried to help me, but he got Jane to stop us," I said monotonously.

"Traitor," he growled under his breath, as he took Athanasia from my arms.

She finally began to stir and I sighed in relief, hiding my shameful expression in my hands.

"Mum, I'm so sorry, I tried my best, I didn't know that-"

"Don't worry, Athy, neither of us foresaw this loophole. I apologise for dragging you into this mess," I interrupted.

"Athy, what did Jane do to you?" Oktai demanded.

"Nothing worse than what she'd do to the humans," she replied tiredly, "I'll walk it off  _ f'anwylyd _ (my dearest), don't stress it."

"That doesn't give me much hope,  _ khairaa _ ," Oktai muttered darkly.

"I'm fine, honestly, please stop worrying you two! I'm as durable as a vampire, you don't have to treat me like I'm a human," she sulked, pushing us both away and standing up.

"Athy forgive me, I-" I began.

"Mum, I'm not going to lie to you, I should have realised my powers weren't strong enough, it's not your fault you overestimated me," she reproved in an extremely staccato voice. "I overheard that we're expected in the dungeons," she announced and zipped off.

Oktai and I looked at each other with unease, but followed shortly behind, arriving at the dungeons in thirty three seconds flat.

Although we were some of the last to arrive, we could all feel a strange level of excitement and energy coming from the dungeons, the likes of which had probably never been seen in such a place. Most of the coven, including many fellow members of the advance guard, cloaked in black, stood trying to look through the cracks between the locked door which separated the chamber from the cells. My nose told me that inside the room were three humans as well as a few select vampires, but not even Jane and Alec had been allowed inside.

My breath hitched as I inhaled the scent of Caius. As much as I found his aroma pleasant, I had been distanced from it for over a month now and it came as a huge shock to my system. Although I wished to get another whiff, the conflict I had pushed to the back of mind arose to the forefront of my thoughts and combined with the aftereffects of Jane's torture, gave me a sudden headache.

Letting out a small groan of annoyance, my hand came to rest upon my forehead, hoping that the coolness of my skin would do something to stop the pain. Unfortunately, I made eye contact with Jane, who looked away immediately. This prompted Oktai to hiss loudly at her, causing everyone to direct their gaze towards him.

"I didn't want to, you  _ know _ I didn't want to," Jane whispered furiously. Her twin Alec put his arm around her shoulder in support.

"Then why did you?" Oktai growled.

"I'd rather not lose a limb anytime soon," she hissed back.

"So you thought torturing my family was a good thing to do?" he snapped.

"I didn't ask to have this power, you know," Jane replied defiantly.

"I bet you wouldn't hurt your brother like that, though, would you?" he pressed.

"Oktai,  _ please _ don't make this big of a deal out of it! I'm fine!" Athy exclaimed. The tension was interrupted by the violent opening of the dungeon door. I stood frozen as I saw the face of my former lover, illuminated only by the flickering of the torches. Behind him stood his fellow kings, Aro and Marcus as well as Demetri and Santiago with whom he had returned from the mission.

"What seems to be the problem here?" Caius spoke in a measured, yet demanding voice. Oktai scoffed.

"Why don't you ask  _ her _ ," Oktai said, gesturing towards Jane. She refused to meet Caius's eyes.

"Jane. Would you care to explain why I have been forced to interrupt this extremely important meeting?" Caius asked, eyes daring the girl to look at him. I didn't want to watch. This wasn't Jane's fault, it was purely Aro's.

"I only did so because it was on Aro's orders, master, you must understand," she began, her young age becoming more apparent as she cowered ever so slightly in front of Caius. "I was asked to use my gift on your m-mate and daughter," she continued anxiously. I stared at the wall, trying my best to ignore Caius and his inevitable punishment of poor Jane. But none came just yet.

"Is this true Oktai? Athanasia?" Caius demanded. They both replied affirmatively.

"In that case, Jane..." he began threateningly. I really didn't want to witness the young girl be ripped to shreds, so my attention remained firmly fixed upon the air bubbles trapped between the stones in the walls. "I shall have to discuss this matter with my colleague. I hope for  _ his _ sake that he has a good justification for employing such wrath against my own," he continued, calmer this time. I heard a laugh in the form of a small huff come from the direction of Athenodora and it was then that I realised how surprisingly lenient Caius had been in disciplining Jane. Briefly meeting the gaze of Caius's ex, she raised an eyebrow at me.

"Chelsea, Corin, please enter, we require your services," he added before disappearing once again into the chambers. They glided through the door before it was slammed shut yet again, the lock clinking loudly.

We all waited in painful silence, whether due to the slightly unresolved tension that hung in the air like a miasma, or the desire to eavesdrop on the conversation happening within the gaol. Less than a minute later, the figure of Sulpicia appeared at the top of the stairs. She was still cradling Zala's baby, feeding him a bottle which had been filled with blood.

She seemed like a completely different vampire now, no longer moody and distant. The ghost of a smile haunted her red lips. It was such a shame that her happiness had to come at the cost of my friend. If this had been under any other circumstances, I'm sure that we'd have got on like a coffin on fire. The crowd that was gathered in the stairwell parted silently to let her through.

Once she had descended the stairs, she stopped in front of my daughter.

"I understand that you are eager to meet another like you," she began, "you may hold him if you like," Sulpicia concluded, the slightest implication of warmth buried beneath her words.

Athanasia stared open-mouthed, but managed to nod in agreement. Sulpicia let out an extremely rare chuckle which was as delicate and as cold as winter morning frost, and passed Zala's child from her arms to Athy's.

As soon as little Theodotis lay in Athy's warm embrace, he began to wiggle around slightly and let out an adorable baby babble, much to the amusement of my daughter.

"He's so cute," she said breathlessly, smiling uncontrollably in response to the young one's actions. Putting aside my feelings of betrayal, whether because of etiquette or Chelsea's meddling, I placed a hand on Athy's shoulder.

"That's exactly how I felt the first time I held you," I confessed.

"Haha, I was  _ definitely _ not  _ this _ cute, mum!" she giggled. "Mum, you have to hold him, you're his godmother after all."

Sulpicia surprisingly did not protest as Athanasia passed the infant into my cold arms. He was just as warm as Athy and sported a full set of teeth.

"Guess what," Sulpicia began, scandalously, "he's venomous!" she laughed excitedly in a way that was strangely reminiscent of her husband.

"What! That's so unfair!" Athy complained, but her excitement couldn't keep her sulking for long. Although I remained unconvinced by her genuinity, Sulpicia wanted to become a mother at the end of the day, and I remembered the lengths to which I would have gone before I knew that I could legitimately carry a child of my own. As much as I cared for Zala, seeing things from Sulpicia's point of view made me realise how much I sympathised for both women's side of the argument. If it were me, of course I'd want to be somehow involved in the life of a child who was biologically mine, but I also would not particularly want the woman that my husband impregnated in order to have said child, be present in my life. I just wished that Zala would have had a say in this.

I held Theodotis and noticed how his hazel eyes matched those of his biological mother, his brunette curls too. In fact, none of his features apart from his venomosity seemed to come from his father. Perhaps this was Zala's final revenge. (You can take the baby out of Zala, but you can't take the Zala out of the baby).

I had barely been cradling him for two minutes, when the door opened yet again. Aro stepped out and addressed us all.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I have asked for you all to convene here. You are all to enter the dungeons and familiarise yourselves with the scents of these three humans. They are our friends, not our food. Any violation of this will ensure your immediate discipline and potential destruction. That is all."

Each of the vampires who were present for the meeting walked out sullenly.

The strangest thing happened when I made eye contact with Corin. It was as if I had delved into her memories for the briefest of moments. As her cloak brushed ever so slightly past Theo, who I was still holding, I heard the words so clearly in my mind, as if spoken to me directly by Aro himself:

" _ Ensure that you and Chelsea keep Luíseach content in hating Caius." _


	21. Chapter 21 Part I - The Phantom

Jolasun POV

My first time abroad and I was in Paris of all places. I couldn't believe how quickly my career had taken off. Having grown up with Nigerian parents, they'd always tried to tempt me away from the performing arts and into a more "stable" job.

Although I respected their wishes enough to attempt university, I refused to follow after my brothers; a dentist and PhD student. Thankfully, Tosin and Richard had both helped me hide my attempts at breaking into the entertainment industry for a few years now. But now that I'd got my undergrad degree, I could hide my passion no longer.

The day that I found out I'd got the part of Christine in  _ Phantom of the Opera _ for the musical's European tour was a massive comfort. Being a huge music nerd, I'd also been trying to work on my solo career alongside my long list of failed auditions. Editing crappily-made music videos for youtube had been the bane of my life for the last few months. But now that I'd had my first win, my confidence had fuelled further successes.

I'd barely even had to beg my agent to find me some supporting gigs in the same cities we were touring. Hopefully this was going to be the big break I'd wished for.

Some may call it overworking, but I preferred to go all-in. If I had the time to think about things too much, I'd just get nervous. Besides, it was a good way to prove to my parents that I was serious about this profession.

I'd barely had the chance to explore Paris yet. Yesterday had been full of rehearsals and of course, the opening night of  _ Phantom _ , but I was planning on taking a tour of the catacombs later with some of the cast before my gig.

After our week-long run in London, I felt invincible. The audience couldn't have been more supportive. Last night's performance had been just as exhilarating. I was particularly proud that my voice had not dried during Christine's warbling duet of the titular piece.

For the time being, I found myself holed up in a quaint French coffee shop, sipping hot chocolate, running through the lyrics to my songs and trying to calm any butterflies that dared to spawn in my stomach. This would have been much easier to do if the three guys on the table next to me could be a bit quieter.

It sounded as if they were arguing about something or another, but I'd barely passed my French GCSE so I had no chance at eavesdropping. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly made me so curious to listen in to their conversation. I suppose they were all very attractive, the one guy had a similar skin tone as mine, with dreads. The other was blond and kind of tanned, but the third was straight up albino, red eyes and all.

Annoyed at the distraction, I flicked my braids over my shoulder, hitting the blond guy in the arm and returned to my lyrics, hoping he'd catch the hint and turn down the volume.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the three guys all turned to look at me. Though, "look" may have been the wrong word. "Glare" seemed to be a more appropriate term. As slightly terrifying as their synchronised sass was, at least they'd shut up.

Refusing to indulge them, I continued to stare at my lyrics, until the lad who my hair had apparently offended so much interrupted the stalemate.

"Puis-je t'aider?" ( _ can I help you? _ ) he said. I finally looked up from my notebook. The way they were looking at me made me really uncomfortable. It was almost predatory. Deciding it was probably best to leave, I stuffed my notes into my handbag and stood up.

"No," I answered in English, not understanding what he'd even said in the first place. All I knew was that I wanted to get as far away from those pricks as possible. The nerve of some guys.

As I exited the shop, I felt something tap my shoulder. Turning around, I came face to face with the man who'd spoken to me and nearly jumped out of my skin in surprise.

"I'm sorry if I was rude, madame, I did not realise you do not speak French," he apologised.

"No problem, mate," I laughed awkwardly, wishing I could be anywhere else. This guy was really starting to freak me out.

"I can't believe I didn't recognise you at first, but my friends and I really enjoyed your performance last night, Miss Nwaike," he proceeded.

"Oh, wow, uh, merci beaucoup, I guess. I'm happy that you liked it," I said, taken aback. They didn't look like the kind of guys who'd be interested in the theatre, but appearances could be deceiving.

"We are hoping to come and see the finale in Rome also - your stage presence is, how do you say, phantasmagorical," he gushed.

After a number of "thank you"s and some more awkward back-and-forths in which I exposed the full extent of my Britishness, the guy, whose name was Demetri apparently, let me go on my way.

I was surprised, but relieved, that he hadn't tried asking for my number or something. Despite the legitimacy I felt in his compliment, I still couldn't shake the feeling of unease that he and his friends had given me.

Putting the experience to the back of my mind, I went on with my day without any other hitches.

( _ 5 weeks later _ )

After six weeks of touring, only the finale remained. Rome was an exceptional city to behold, but we'd postponed our tours of the attractions until our work was done.

I sat in my dressing room, admiring the flowers that the director had presented me earlier. Humming the soundtrack to the musical, I began to apply my makeup. After spending the past half an hour getting my wig fitted, I was happy to get some alone time to psyche myself up.

My agent had already been in contact to let me know that I already had studio time booked for my second album (which I still needed to write in the first place). Not only this, but I had my sights set on the upcoming production of  _ Wicked _ that my director was soon holding auditions for.

My train of thought, however, was diverted by a mysterious sound. Pausing my preening, I tried to work out where the noise was coming from, but to no avail. It sounded like someone was whispering - not just any old crap, it was speaking my name.

"Very funny, Fergus! You sound exactly like the Phantom," I shouted at the dressing room wall, adjoining mine to that of my co-star. Of course his idea of a joke was to try and terrify the living shit out of me the night of the finale.

"You what, babe?" I heard my colleague's voice shout back through the wall.

"Never mind," I shouted back. The jokes could wait for afterwards.

"Break a leg, honey," Fergus replied.

"You too, darling," I shouted, resuming my makeup. Had I really let myself nearly get phased by a stupid little joke? Not a minute had gone by when I heard the voice again.

"Jolasun, Jojo, my angel of music, come outside," it called.

"Ferg, stop it, I'll come out when I've finished my makeup. Promise," I replied. I had suspected that things might get a little chaotic tonight, but my nerves weren't quite ready to party just yet.

A knock at the door made me jump so much that I smudged my eyeliner. Cursing under my breath, I got up to answer it. However, when I opened the door there was no one there. Rolling my eyes, I turned to go back into the dressing room. I intended to leave the door open so that I could catch my prankster red handed.

That's when my vision went black.

When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in my dressing room in Rome. Through my groggy vision, I could just about make out a jail cell with some people standing outside it. Squinting in confusion, I nearly threw up in fear as I realised that I recognised three of the people who were on the other side of the bars. Demetri, his two friends and a group of other culty-looking people were all standing in cloaks looking at me with blood-red eyes.


	22. Chapter 21  Part II - Mitsuminé

Oharu POV

お母さんが欲しかったから、夏休みにずっと埼玉県に過ごすつもりだった。   
_ Okaasan ga hoshi-katta kara, natsuyasumi ni zutto saitama-ken ni sugosu-tsumori-datta. _ _   
_ **We were going to spend all of the summer holidays in Saitama Prefecture because my mum wanted to go there.** **  
** 景色はやっぱり綺麗だったのに、東京の大勢の方が居心地いいと思った。   
_ Keshiki wa yappari kirei datta noni, toukyou no oozei no hou ga igokochi-ii to omotta. _ _   
_ **As expected, the landscape was breathtaking, but I felt more comfortable in the crowds of Tokyo.** **  
** だが、お父さんの事故から、母さんが沈んでってしまったから、この選択を問わなかった。   
_ Da ga, otousan no jiko kara, kaasan ga shizunde-shimatta kara, kono sentaku wo towanakatta. _ _   
_ **But ever since my dad's accident, mum had begun spiralling into depression so I didn't question her choice.**

高校一年生だったが、一学期の後には、もう戻りたくなかった。   
_ Koukou ichinensei datta ga, ichi-gakki no ato ni wa, mou modoritaku-nakatta. _ _   
_ **One term in high school was enough to make me not want to go back.** **  
** 授業では同じ音楽が好きな人がいないし、同じアニメが好きな人もいないし、それにあたしのことが好きな人もいなかった。   
_ Jugyou de wa onaji ongaku ga suki-na hito ga inai-shi, onaji anime ga suki-na hito mo inai-shi, soreni atashi no koto ga suki-na hito mo inakatta. _ _   
_ **No one in my class liked anything to do with me, let alone the same music or anime.**

土曜日の朝、母さんと一緒に電車に乗って、ずっと沈黙だった。   
_ Doyoubi no asa, kaasan to isshoni densha ni notte, zutto chinmoku datta. _ _   
_ **On Saturday morning, mum and I left Tokyo on the train but sat in complete silence for the whole journey.** **  
** だから、ヘッドフォンを入れて、ディル・アン・グレイを聞き始めた。   
_ Dakara, heddofon wo irete, diru an gurei wo kiki-hajimeta. _ _   
_ **Putting my headphones in, I started listening to Dir en Grey.** **  
** 新しいアルバムはすごいカタルシスだったから、聴けば聴くほど眠くなってきた。   
_ Atarashii arubamu wa sugoi katarushisu datta kara, kikeba-kiku hodo nemuku-natte-kita. _ _   
_ **Their newest album was a great catharsis; the more I listened, the more relaxed I became.** **  
** だんだん目を閉じて、眠りに堕ちた。   
_ Dandan me wo tojite, nemuri ni ochita. _ _   
_ **My eyelids got heavy and I fell asleep.**

「オハルちゃん、起こして。もうすぐ駅にたどり着くよ」母さんがひそひそ声で言った。   
_ 「Oharu-chan, okoshite. Mousugu eki ni tadoritsuku yo」kaasan ga hisohiso-koe de itta. _ _   
_ **"Oharu, wake up, we're nearly at the station," mum whispered.** **  
** ガバッと起こした。   
_ Gabatto okoshita. _ _   
_ **I awoke with a start.** **  
** 悪夢を見たような感覚があったが、ぜんぜん覚えられなかった。   
_ Akumu wo mita you-na kankaku ga atta ga, zenzen oboerare-nakatta. _ _   
_ **I felt as though I'd had a nightmare, but try as I might, I couldn't remember my dream.** **  
** 「まもなく、西武秩父駅に止まります」電車のアナウンスが言った。   
_ 「Mamonaku, seibu-chichibu eki ni tomarimasu」densha no anaunsu ga itta. _ _   
_ **"The next stop is Seibu Chichibu," the announcement called.**

かばんを手に取って、母さんの跡に電車を降りて、絶対の田舎の秩父市の中へ入った。   
_ Kaban wo te ni totte, kaasan no ato ni densha wo orite, zettai no inaka no chichibu-shi no naka he haitta. _ _   
_ **I grabbed my bag and followed my mum off the train and into the very rural Chichibu city.** **  
** 母さんがセブン・イレブンへ連れていって、いつも通りにウイスキーとかタバコを買ってしまった。   
_ Kaasan ga sebun irebun he tsurete-itte, itsumo-doori ni uisukii toka tabako wo katte-shimatta. _ _   
_ **She took me with her to Seven Eleven and just as always, bought a bottle of whisky and some cigarettes.** **  
** 今夜は辛くなるはずだ。   
_ Kon'ya wa tsuraku-naru hazu da. _ _   
_ **Tonight was going to be rough.**

「母さん、あたしが松屋で食べたい。後でホテルへ来ていいですか？」静かに訊いた。   
_ 「Kaasan, atashi ga matsuya de tabetai. Ato de hoteru he kite-ii desu ka?」shizuka ni kiita. _ _   
_ **"Mum, would I be able to eat at Matsuya** ( _ popular restaurant chain _ )  **and join you at the hotel afterwards?" I asked quietly.** **  
** 「いいよ」母さんが五千円を譲りながら、言った。   
_ 「Ii yo」kaasan ga gosen'en wo yuzuri-nagara, itta. _ _   
_ **"Fine," she said, handing me 500 yen.**

一人で松屋に入った。   
_ Hitori de matsuya ni haitta. _ _   
_ **I entered Matsuya alone.** **  
** ハンバーガーセットを注文して、窓の席に座りに行った。   
_ Hanbaagaa setto wo chuumon-shite, mado no seki ni suwari-ni-itta. _ _   
_ **Ordering the hamburger set, I found a seat next to the window.** **  
** いつものように美味しかって、お父さんと一緒に来た時を思い出した。   
_ Itsumo no you ni oishikatte, otousan to issho ni kita toki wo omoidashita. _ _   
_ **The food was delicious as always and a memory of my father and I coming here came to mind.** **  
** 今や、お父さんの思い出がほとんどなかった。   
_ Imaya, otousan no omoide ga hotondo nakatta. _ _   
_ **Nowadays, I didn't really have any memories of my dad.** **  
** 事故の前の記憶がたいてい消えてしまったけど、ときどき曖昧な思い出が出て来る。   
_ Jiko no mae no kioku ga taitei kiete-shimatta kedo, tokidoki aimai-na omoide ga detekuru. _ _   
_ **I'd lost most of my memories from before the accident but sometimes I got vague glimpses of the past.**

お腹が痛くなったほど食べて、息をついて、ホテルへ出かけた。   
_ Onaka ga itaku-natta hodo tabete, iki wo tsuite, hoteru he dekaketa. _ _   
_ **I ate until my stomach hurt and taking a moment to catch my breath, I left for the hotel.** **  
** 暗くないうちに着きたかったが、ありえないようだった。   
_ Kuraku-nai uchi ni tsukita-katta ga, arienai you datta. _ _   
_ **I'd wanted to get there before it got dark but that was looking pretty impossible right now.** **  
** 自分自身の安全性についてあまり心配してなかったのは、他人によく「ヤンデレ」と呼ばれてもらったからだ。   
_ Jibun-jishin no anzensei ni tsuite amari shinpai-shite-nakatta no wa, tanin ni yoku 「yandere」to yobarete-moratta kara da. _ _   
_ **Though I rarely worried about my safety, most people avoided me anyway because I was such a "typical yandere" in their view.** **  
** 実は、自分の母親があたしのことが嫌いだと感じたときもあった。   
_ Jitsu wa, jibun no hahaoya ga atashi no koto ga kirai da to kanjita toki mo atta. _ _   
_ **I even sometimes got the impression that my own mum didn't like me.** **  
** でも、しょうがないね。   
_ Demo, shouganai ne. _ _   
_ **But I guess that was unavoidable.**

ホテルへ行く途中で、どんな観光地があるかを調べるにした。   
_ Hoteru he iku tochuu de, donna kankouchi ga aru ka wo shiraberu ni shita. _ _   
_ **On the way to the hotel, I decided to have a look at what places of interest were nearby.** **  
** バスに乗れば、山上に建てられている三峯神社へ行ける。   
_ Basu ni noreba, sanjou ni taterarete-iru mitsumine-jinja he ikeru. _ _   
_ **You could get the bus to this mountain top shrine - Mitsumine.** **  
** しかし、登竜橋を通じて散歩できるようだった。   
_ Shikashi, touryuu-bashi wo tsuujite sanpo-dekiru you datta. _ _   
_ **However, you could also choose to walk all the way up the mountain if you wanted to.** **  
** 酔っ払ってる母親から、どれだけに離れ離れになりたかったから、明日散歩にした。   
_ Yopparatte-ru hahaoya kara, doredake ni hanare-banare ni narita-katta kara, ashita sanpo ni shita. _ _   
_ **I made my mind up to take a nice walk there tomorrow, wanting to get as far away from my drunken mum as possible.**

部屋に着いて、母さんはもう机の上に眠ってる。   
_ Heya ni tsuite, kaasan wa mou tsukue no ue ni nemutte-ru. _ _   
_ **Entering the hotel room, I saw that mum had already fallen asleep on the vanity desk.** **  
** なるべく静かにシャワーを浴びて、何時間も眠らずにベッドの上に横たわった。   
_ Narubeku shizuka ni shawaa wo abite, nanjikan mo nemurazu ni beddo no ue ni yokotawatta. _ _   
_ **As quietly as I could, I took a shower and then lay awake in bed for who knows how many hours.** **  
** お母さんが大好きだったが、自分の記憶問題のせいか、常に遠かった。   
_ Okaasan ga daisuki datta ga, jibun no kioku mondai no sei ka, tsune ni tookatta. _ _   
_ **Although I loved my mum, she always seemed distant. Perhaps it was the result of my memory problem.** **  
** 「お父さんの死を目撃したから、何も覚えてない」のささやいた話しを何回も聞いたことある。   
_ 「Otousan no shi wo mokugeki-shita kara, nani mo oboete-nai」no sasayaita hanashi wo nankai mo kiita koto aru. _ _   
_ **I'd heard the whispers many times: "she's just traumatised because she witnessed her father's death, that's why she's forgotten everything."**

それに対して、母親をまた尊敬した。   
_ Sore ni taishite, hahaoya wo mata sonkei-shita. _ _   
_ **Despite everything, I respected my mum.** **  
** 毎日、相変わらずに、会社へ通って、働いてた。   
_ Mainichi, aikawarazu ni, kaisha he kayotte, hataraite-ta. _ _   
_ **Every day, she went to work and was still able to get on with life.** **  
** 残念ながら、嘆きや感情の解消法はお酒だった。   
_ Zannen-nagara, nageki ya kanjou no kaishouhou wa osake datta. _ _   
_ **Though sadly, alcohol was the relief for her grief.**

自分が選んだら、夏休みをずっと原宿で過ごす。   
_ Jibun ga erandara, natsuyasumi wo zutto harajuku de sugosu. _ _   
_ **If I'd been able to choose, I'd have spent the summer break in Harajuku.** **  
** 社会に溶け込めない人に完璧な場所だった。   
_ Shakai ni tokekomenai hito ni kanpeki-na basho datta. _ _   
_ **It was the ideal place for those who didn't quite fit into society.** **  
** 最近、ゴシックのファッションにとっても夢中になってきたから、毎週末、原宿を巡礼した。   
_ Saikin, goshikku no fasshon ni tottemo muchuu ni natte-kita kara, mai-shuumatsu, harajuku wo junrei-shita. _ _   
_ **Recently, I'd become obsessed with gothic fashion and made the pilgrimage to the town every weekend.**

黒いドレスとか厚底靴について想いながら、やっと眠りに堕ちた。   
_ Kuroi doresu toka atsuzokugutsu ni tsuite omoi-nagara, yatto nemuri ni ochita. _ _   
_ **Thinking of black dresses and platform shoes, I finally fell asleep.**

「母さん！母さん」大声で呼んだ。   
_ 「Kaasan! Kaasan」oogoe de yonda. _ _   
_ **"Mommy! Mommy!" I called in my loudest voice.** **  
** 「オハルちゃん、台所にいるよ」母親が嬉しく言った。   
_ 「Oharu-chan, daidokoro ni iru yo」hahaoya ga ureshiku itta. _ _   
_ **"Oharu, darling, I'm in the kitchen," mum replied cheerfully.** **  
** キッチンへ走って、秘密をシェアしたかった。   
_ Kitchin he hashitte, himitsu wo shea-shita-katta. _ _   
_ **Wishing to share my secret, I ran to see her.**

「オハルちゃん、お元気ですか？」お母さんが聞いてくれた。   
_ 「Oharu-chan, ogenki desu ka?」okaasan ga kiite-kureta. _ _   
_ **"Oharu, how are you?" she asked.** **  
** 「ひみつがありますよね」笑い声で言った。   
_ 「Himitsu ga arimasu yo ne」waraigoe de itta. _ _   
_ **"I have a secret," I giggled.** **  
** 「ワぁぁ！秘密でしょうか！」母が続いた。   
_ 「Waaa! Himitsu deshou ka!」haha ga tsudzuita. _ _   
_ **"Wow! A secret?" she continued.** **  
** 頭を頷いた。   
_ Atama wo unazuita. _ _   
_ **I nodded.** **  
** 「お母さんにいいたいですよ」   
_ 「Okaasan ni iitai desu yo」 _ _   
_ **"I want to tell** **_you_ ** **, mommy."** **  
** 「そうですか？では、話してくれてね、オハルちゃん」   
_ 「Sou desu ka? De wa, hanashite-kurete ne, oharu-chan」 _ _   
_ **"Is that so? Then go ahead, darling."** **  
** 「父さんがおばさんにキスしているのをみましたよね」あたしが言った。   
_ 「Tousan ga obasan ni kisu-shite-iru no wo mimashita yo ne」atashi ga itta. _ _   
_ **"I saw daddy kissing auntie," I said.** **  
** 「えっ」まだ笑ってる母親が言った。   
_ 「Eh」mada waratte-ru hahaoya ga itta. _ _   
_ **"Wha-" mum said, her earlier smile still frozen on her face.**

「オハルちゃん、いつかこれを見ましたか？」母親が冷え冷えと聞かれた。   
_ 「Oharu-chan, itsu ka kore wo mimashita ka?」hahaoya ga hiehie to kikareta. _ _   
_ **"Oharu, when exactly did you see this?" she quizzed, but coldly this time.** **  
** 「お母さんがしごとにいたときでしたよね」鼻高々に言った。   
_ 「Okaasan ga shigoto ni ita toki deshita yo ne」hana-takadaka ni itta. _ _   
_ **"When you were at work," I announced proudly.** **  
** 「そうなんですか…」   
_ 「Sou nan desu ka...」 _ _   
_ **"I see…"**

警告なし、お母さんが風呂場まで走って、扉を脚でぶつかった。   
_ Keikoku-nashi, okaasan ga furoba made hashitte, tobira wo ashi de butsukatta. _ _   
_ **Without warning, mum ran towards the bathroom and kicked the door open.** **  
** 議論を全て聞いてしまった。   
_ Giron wo subete kiite-shimatta. _ _   
_ **I heard my parents arguing.** **  
** どうして両親が戦ってたのか分からなかったけど、あたしのせいだったと分かった。   
_ Doushite ryoushin ga tatakatte-ta no ka wakaranakatta kedo, atashi no sei datta to wakatta. _ _   
_ **I didn't understand why they were fighting but I knew that it was my fault.**

謝りに階段に登った。   
_ Ayamari ni kaidan ni nobotta. _ _   
_ **I climbed the stairs to go and apologise.** **  
** 風呂場に入って、母親の泣いている姿を目にした。   
_ Furoba ni haitte, hahaoya no naite-iru sugata wo me-ni-shita. _ _   
_ **When I walked into the room, I saw my mum in tears.** **  
** お父さんが化粧着を着て、腕をこまねく、お風呂の側に立てた、目を転がしながら。   
_ Otousan ga keshougi wo kite, ude wo komaneku, ofuro no soba ni tate-ta, me wo korogashi-nagara. _ _   
_ **Dad was standing next to the bath in a dressing gown, arms folded and rolling his eyes.** **  
** 状況がじゅうぶん分からなかったけど、お母さんを白い目で見る父の姿が全然好きじゃなかった。   
_ Joukyou ga juubun wakara-nakatta kedo, okaasan wo shiroi-me-de-miru chichi no sugata ga zenzen suki-ja-nakatta. _ _   
_ **I didn't know what was going on, but I hated how coldly dad was looking down at my mum.**

突然に、誰かの手で触らずに、父さんが立っているバスマットを脚の下から引っ張った。   
_ Totsuzen ni, dare ka no te de sawarazuni, tousan ga tatte-iru basumatto wo ashi no shita kara hippatta. _ _   
_ **Suddenly, without anyone touching it, the bath mat that he was standing on was pulled violently from under his feet.** **  
** スローモーションで倒れてしまった。   
_ Suroomooshon de taorete-shimatta. _ _   
_ **I watched as dad fell in slow motion.** **  
** お父さんの頭がお風呂に打撃して、すぐに血が出てきた。   
_ Otousan no atama ga ofuro ni dageki-shite, sugu ni chi ga detekita. _ _   
_ **His head hit the side of the bath, immediately drawing blood.** **  
** あたしのせいだった。   
_ Atashi no sei datta. _ _   
_ **It was my fault.**

母親の叫び声が耳で響いていて、息をのんで起きた。   
_ Hahaoya no sakebi-goe ga mimi de hibiite-ite, iki wo nonde okita. _ _   
_ **The screams of my mum still echoing in my ear, I woke up gasping for breath.**

時計を見て、もう朝８時になった。   
_ Tokei wo mite, mou asa hachi-ji ni natta. _ _   
_ **Looking at the clock, I saw that it was already eight in the morning.** **  
** 母さんはもうシャワーにいた。   
_ Kaasan wa mou shawaa ni ita. _ _   
_ **Mum was already in the shower.** **  
** 気づかれずに出かけたかったから、早くメモを書いて、服を着て、「いってきます」と言いながら、出かけた。   
_ Kidzukarezu ni dekaketa-katta kara, hayaku memo wo kaite, fuku wo kite, 「itte-kimasu」to ii-nagara, dekaketa. _ _   
_ **I wanted to sneak out unnoticed so I wrote a quick note, got dressed and left the room saying a quick "see you later".**

バス停へ歩いて、１０分後にバスが来た。   
_ Basu-tei he aruite, juppun-go ni basu ga kita. _ _   
_ **Walking to the bus stop, I only had to wait ten minutes before it arrived.** **  
** 豊富で風光明媚な風景を通して、バスが走った。   
_ Houfu de fuukoumeibi-na fuukei wo tooshite, basu ga hashitta. _ _   
_ **We passed through an abundance of picturesque scenery on our way.** **  
** 大輪というバス停で降りた。   
_ Oowa to iu basu-tei de orita. _ _   
_ **I alighted the bus at a stop called Ōwa.**

山に囲まれてる景色は思ったより完璧だった。   
_ Yama ni kakomarete-ru keshiki wa omotta-yori kanpeki datta. _ _   
_ **I still couldn't believe just how perfect the landscape was, surrounded by the mountains.** **  
** 鳥居を通して歩いて、登竜橋に渡った。   
_ Torii wo tooshite aruite, touryuu-bashi ni watatta. _ _   
_ **Passing through the** **_tori_ ** **gate, I crossed Touryuu bridge.**

カメラで写真をたくさん撮って、渓を通して、山の峰へ歩きはじめた。   
_ Kamera de shashin wo takusan totte, tani wo tooshite, tama no mine he aruki-hajimeta. _ _   
_ **Crossing the valley and beginning the climb up the mountain, I took as many pictures as I could.** **  
** 埼玉県は忙しい東京都からこんなに近いなんて信じられなかった。   
_ Saitama-ken wa isogashii toukyou-to kara konna ni chikai nante shinjirare-nakatta. _ _   
_ **It was difficult to believe that Saitama was so close to busy Tokyo.** **  
** ここは完全な静寂だった。   
_ Koko wa kanzen-na seijaku datta. _ _   
_ **Here, I was in complete and perfect silence.** **  
** 散歩すれば散歩するほど景色がもっと美しくなってきた。   
_ Sanpo-sureba-sanpo-suru hodo keshiki ga motto utsukushiku-natte-kita. _ _   
_ **The further I walked, the more beautiful the scenery became.**

３０分ぐらいの後には、ベンチに辿り着いて、のんびりにした。   
_ San-ju-ppun gurai no ato ni wa, benchi ni tadori-tsuite, nonbiri ni shita. _ _   
_ **After about half an hour, I came to a bench and decided to relax for a bit.** **  
** カメラを出して、撮った写真をもう一回見直した。   
_ Kamera wo dashite, totta shashin wo mou ikkai mi-naoshita. _ _   
_ **I got my camera out and looked through the photos I'd taken so far.** **  
** 驚いたことに、たくさんの写真には、変な影が見られていることだった。   
_ Odoroita-koto ni, takusan no shashin ni wa, hen na kage ga mirarete-iru koto datta. _ _   
_ **Annoyingly, in most of the photos, a strange shadow was visible.** **  
** 「大変だね」ぶつぶつと呟いて、レンズの前に指を置いちゃったに違いない。   
_ 「Taihen da ne」butsubutsu to tsubuyaite, renzu no mae ni yubi wo oitchatta ni chigai-nai. _ _   
_ **"That sucks," I muttered under my breath, no doubt I'd had my finger in front of the lens.**

しかし、見れば見るほど人間のような姿だと気づいてきて、指の映しじゃなかった…   
_ Shikashi, mireba-miru hodo ningen no you na sugata da to kidzuite-kite, yubi no utsushi ja-nakatta… _ _   
_ **However, the more I looked, the more I realised that the shape looked like a person and not the shadow of my finger.** **  
** 何やら変態がいるかもしれない。   
_ Nani-yara hentai ga iru kamoshirenai. _ _   
_ **Maybe there was some kind of weirdo here in the forest.** **  
** ちょっと心配してて、もっと早く山上へ続いてった。   
_ Chotto shinpai-shite-te, motto hayaku sanjou he tsudzuite-tta. _ _   
_ **A little worried, I continued towards the mountain top, a little faster now.**

雲が消えて、三峰山の森は木漏れ日の光に照らされてきた。   
_ Kumo ga kiete, mitsumine-san no mori wa komorebi no hikari ni terasarete-kita. _ _   
_ **As the clouds disappeared, the sunlight began to filter through the trees, illuminating the forest.** **  
** 日差しが暖かい風に揺られている葉に緑の万華鏡のように光ってた。   
_ Hizashi ga atatakai kaze ni yurarete-iru ha ni midori no mangekyou no you ni hikatte-ta. _ _   
_ **The rays shone like a green kaleidoscope off the leaves that were swaying in the warm breeze.** **  
** まるで自然の天国だった。   
_ Maru de shizen no tengoku datta. _ _   
_ **It was like nature's heaven.**

歩道から目を背ける瞬間には、何かがヒュッと耳を高速で通り過ぎて、目を歩道に怖く戻した。   
_ Hodou kara me wo somukeru shunkan ni wa, nani ka ga hyutto mimi wo kousoku de toori-sugite, me wo hodou ni kowaku modoshita. _ _   
_ **In the moment that my eyes were diverted from the footpath, I heard something whoosh past me at high speed. I turned my gaze back to the path in fright.** **  
** 自分の目の前には突然に背が高くて、金髪な外国人が現れて、キャーと叫んだ。   
_ Jibun no me no mae ni wa totsuzen ni se ga takakute, kinpatsu-na gaikokujin ga arawarete, kyaatto sakenda. _ _   
_ **Right in front of my eyes now stood a tall, blond foreigner. I let out a squeak of shock.** **  
** 誠に不思議な人だった。   
_ Makotoni fushigi-na hito datta. _ _   
_ **He was a strange person indeed.** **  
** 日差しがその人の真っ白な肌に触れて、星のようにキラキラと輝いていた。   
_ Hizashi ga sono hito no masshiro-na hada ni furete, hoshi no you ni kirakira to kagayaite-ta. _ _   
_ **As the rays of light touched his pale skin, it seemed to sparkle.** **  
** その上に、紅カラコンが入ってた。   
_ Sono ue ni, kurenai karakon ga haitte-ta. _ _   
_ **What's more, he was wearing crimson contact lenses.** **  
** この人は写真に登場した影でしょうか。   
_ Kono hiro wa shashin ni toujou-shita kage deshou ka. _ _   
_ **Could this guy be the shadow that had appeared in my photos?**

なぜか分からなかったけど、動けないほど怖かった。   
_ Naze ka wakara-nakatta kedo, ugoke-nai hodo kowakatta. _ _   
_ **I didn't know why, but I was so scared that I couldn't even move.** **  
** 逃げたかったが、周囲にいる助けられる人はなさそうだった。   
_ Nigeta-katta ga, shuui ni iru tasukerareru hito wa nasasou datta. _ _   
_ **I wanted to run away, but there didn't seem to be anyone around who could help.** **  
** あたりにいる木の根のそばに大枝を見て、それを届けば、この変態を戦えるようになるかもしれない。   
_ Atari ni iru ki no ne no soba ni ooeda wo mite, sore wo todokeba, kono hentai wo tatakaeru you ni naru kamoshirenai. _ _   
_ **I noticed a huge branch lying at the base of a nearby tree. If I could reach that, I might have a chance at fighting off this guy.**

でも、ほんの少し動きしだい、変態があたしの腕を捕まっちゃった。   
_ Demo, hon no sukoshi ugoki-shidai, hentai ga atashi no ude wo tsukama-cchatta. _ _   
_ **As soon as I made the slightest of movements, he grabbed my arm.** **  
** もう一度叫んだ、大枝に自由の手を差し伸べようとしながら。   
_ Mou ichido sakenda, ooeda ni jiyuu no te wo sashinobeyou-to-shi-nagara. _ _   
_ **With my free hand, I tried to reach for the branch as I shouted again.** **  
** 「Stop struggling or this will be very painful for you」男性が英語で言った。   
_ 「」dansei ga eigo de itta. _ _   
_ **"Stop struggling or this will be very painful for you," the man said in English.** **  
** 「英語がしゃべらないぞ」やきもきと唸りながら、男性を蹴ってみたが、無駄だった。   
_ 「Eigo ga shaberanai zo」yakimoki to unari-nagara, dansei wo kette-mita ga, muda datta. _ _   
_ **"I don't bloody speak English," I shouted back, getting worked up. I tried to kick him but it seemed futile.**

必死になって、大枝があたしの方へ来ることを祈った。   
_ Hisshi ni natte, ooeda ga atashi no hou he kuru koto wo inotta. _ _   
_ **Desperately, I prayed for the branch to move closer to me.** **  
** 「You give me no choice, girl」男性がいらいらと言った。   
_ 「」dansei ga iraira to itta. _ _   
_ **"You give me no choice, girl," the man said angrily.** **  
** あっという間に、頭が落雷にあわれたように痛くなって、地面に転がった。   
_ Attoiuma ni, atama ga rakurai ni awareta you ni itaku-natte, jimen ni korogatta. _ _   
_ **In the blink of an eye, pain shot through my head like I'd been struck by lightning and I fell to the floor.** **  
** 口で血の味に溢れて、頭がぐるぐる回った。   
_ Kuchi de chi no aji ni afurete, atama ga guruguru mawatta. _ _   
_ **My mouth was overflowing with the taste of blood and my head was spinning like crazy.**

かすみ目を通して、大枝が見えた。   
_ Kasumi-me wo tooshite, ooeda ga mieta. _ _   
_ **Through blurred vision, I could still make out the branch.** **  
** 混乱の中で、大枝を空に上がって、変な外国人の頭に飛んで、破片に粉砕することを目撃したと思った。   
_ Konran no naka de, ooeda wo sora ni agatte, hentai no gaikokujin no atama ni tonde, hahen ni funsai-suru koto wo mokugeki-shita to omotta. _ _   
_ **In the confusion, I thought I witnessed the gargantuan limb rise up into the air and fly towards the strange man, shattering into tiny splinters as it hit him.** **  
** でも、これも無駄だった。   
_ Demo, kore mo muda datta. _ _   
_ **But this too was no use.** **  
** 「What the fuck」男性が怒鳴った。   
_ 「」dansei ga donatta. _ _   
_ **"What the fuck," he shouted in anger.**

事態の無駄に笑いながら、気を失った。   
_ Jitai no muda ni warai-nagara, ki wo ushinatta. _ _   
_ **Laughing at the futility of the situation, I lost consciousness.**


	23. Chapter 21  Part III - Zvonók (The Call)

'Tamara' POV

"Where are you honey, I miss you," Stas's impatient voice asked through the phone.

"Stas, I've just got out of work, I'll call you when I've got off the metro," I answered, descending the escalator into the underground labyrinth of Mayakóvskaya station.

"Hmph, I'll see you soon then. Love you, babe."

"Love you too Stas, see you," I said, hanging up. Putting my phone in my bag, I ran to try and make the train that was waiting on the platform; following a young man dressed in a suit into the carriage as the doors were closing. Unfortunately, I tripped on my heels and fell forwards, grabbing the man's shoulder instinctively to steady myself.

"Are you okay?" the surprised man enquired, immaculately styled blond hair now slightly askew, helping me to steady myself, as the train left the station.

"I'm sorry, it's my heels' fault," I apologised, pointing to the culprits. The man chuckled.

"Not to worry, take care ma'am." He turned and took a seat on the almost deserted carriage.

I found a seat at the other end near two elderly ladies. The one positive of working overtime were the empty trains. A forty minute journey standing in heels was never pleasant. Reaching into my handbag for my phone, I sent a message to Stas saying I'd got on the metro and I decided to tell him about my little trip to give him something to laugh about.

Waiting for his reply, I started to do a bit of people-watching. The two older ladies were talking about their dácha ( _ a kind of holiday house in the countryside _ ) and plans for the summer. On the bench on the opposite side of the carriage, a dishevelled-looking man was dozing drunkenly, the bottles in the plastic bag next to him clinking every time the train rounded a bend.

Before I had the chance to spy on anyone else, we arrived at Tverskáya and several more people boarded. Among them, a young couple and a group of middle aged men.

I checked my phone and saw that I'd received a reply from Stas. " _ Are you okay babe? You didn't squash him did you)) _ ". Rolling my eyes, I typed back a "yes" to both questions and continued to people-watch.

The couple had chosen the seat directly opposite me and had begun to kiss nauseatingly. One of the old ladies, who sported a pink beret, seemed to share my sentiment as she tutted loudly and began to complain about how disrespectful young people were nowadays. Her friend who was laden with shopping bags of all shapes and sizes disagreed. She admired how sweet it was to see the youth of the day celebrating their love.

Turning my attention to my phone, in the hopes of a distraction, we arrived in the centre of Moscow. The carriage filled up a little more until there were only a few free seats. Still playing my game of snake and waiting for Stas to reply, I snuck a glance at the well-to-do-looking man who I'd nearly knocked down. He was reading a book called  _ Málaya Glushá _ by Mariya Galina - a fantasy novel.

I sent an excited message to Stas. Whilst grandmothers, drunks and overly-affectionate couples were an omnipresence on the metro, I was yet to witness a sophisticated suit-wearing guy reading a fantasy book. Maybe my everyday life was so boring that something like this that slightly deferred from my daily routine was enough to shock me so much. Talk about becoming part of the machine.

Stas messaged me back, obviously thinking the same thing. " _ Tamuna*, you  _ do _ know my mate Mitya is a massive Harry Potter fan)). _ " How could I forget the infamous Mitya (if he was a real person that is). Stas had a running joke that he was mates with one of the higher ups in the FSB - as if he'd be trusted with that information even if it were true.

Before I had the chance to tell him he'd be killed for exposing state secrets, another message came through. " _ Rustam will be able to give you a lift back, babe, don't worry about getting the marshrútka _ ." That had to be the best news I'd heard all day. My brother-in-law worked at the local  _ Pyatyórochka _ supermarket and on the rare occasion that he'd be finishing a shift at the same time as I got to the station, he'd give me a lift home.

" _ You're a lifesaver, Stas, thanks xxx _ ," I sent back as we arrived at Pavelétskaya. Over half of the carriage got off here, including the ladies and the couple, but my friend with the book remained.

I received one more message from Stas, asking me to call him when I got to Krasnogvardéyskaya. Over the next half an hour of my journey, I sat sketching some of the passengers who'd decided to stay on the train, starting afresh as soon as they'd reached their destination. Even the drunk man woke up and made his way to the doors with surprising energy as the announcement for his station was read.

Eventually the only two left were the fantasy fan and me. I had almost finished my sketch of him when we pulled into Tsarítsyno station. Instead of making his way to the door closest to him, he walked down the aisle to the door I was sitting next to.

"I hope you have a safe journey," he said, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Thank you," I said with a little laugh of embarrassment. The train slowed and he left me in solitude. I remained alone until the train reached the terminal station, absentmindedly filling in the blanks that remained on my sketch.

Swapping my notebook for my phone, I rang Stas's number. It barely rang once before he picked up.

"Hey babe, are you still at the station?"

"Hey Stas, yeah, just looking for Rustya's car," I replied, scanning the street for the familiar red Lada.

"Would you be able to drop by Slava's on the way back? I was meant to go and pick up my toolbox today," he asked, as I saw my brother-in-law's car flash its headlights.

"Sure, I'll have to check with Rustya though," I sighed, hopping into the backseat. Rustam had no objections to the detour. "Do you have an address?"

"He's in Biryulyóvo, Elevátornaya Street, head that way and I'll find you the flat number," Stas said. I relayed the information to Rustam and we set off.

"Slava's the one who had the car crash, right?" Rustya asked.

"Yeah, Stas lent him some stuff so he could fix his car up. Apparently everywhere else told him it was a right-off," I clarified. Stas eventually found the address in the twenty minutes it took to drive there from the station and I stayed on the phone with him as I entered the building, taking the stairs to the ninth floor.

Slipping my phone into my jacket pocket, still on call to Stas, I pulled a couple of pins from my hair and began to pick the lock. Looking through the keyhole into the flat, I couldn't see anyone there. Hopefully I'd caught him alone. There had been no cameras in the stairwell either, so I hoped that he was as blind to my approach as I was of the situation inside.

Hearing the lock click open, I drew my gun from my bag, just in case. Best case scenario, it was just the traitor. The reason I'd been chosen for this mission was stealth - or as Stas had put it, " _ just in case he's waiting for us _ ". And after all, mine was the only face he wouldn't recognise.

Stealing into the flat, I could hear the kettle boiling from what must have been the kitchen at the end of the corridor. I feared that he'd become suspicious of me when I'd placed the tracker on him on the metro, so prepared for an ambush from any direction. Sticking to the shadows of the corridor, I slowly peeked into the first door on my right that was ajar.

Minus the area behind the door outside of my vision, only one body present. He was still dressed in that awful suit he'd been wearing earlier, though he'd been able to fix the damage I'd inflicted on his hair.

Seeing my target sitting with his back to me was almost too perfect, he had to have rigged the door with something. I darted past, careful not to disturb the light that came from the room. Painstakingly doing a preliminary sweep of the other rooms, I concluded that it was probably only him there.

Hearing the kettle boil, I hid inside the only room that had an open door as the traitor walked past. Making my move, I followed silently into the kitchen. Gun still drawn, I managed to get within arms reach of him.

Not waiting one moment more, I swung the arm that held the gun. Hearing the rush of air, he began to turn. Luckily I was fast enough. The butt of the gun made contact with his temple before he saw me, knocking him clean to the floor.

Waiting a moment to hear if anyone would come running, I rummaged once again in my bag and withdrew a minuscule syringe. Upon hearing nothing but silence, I injected the memory serum into him, cauterising the needle mark ever so slightly with the boiling water from the kettle.

Spilling some water onto the floor, I put the finishing touches to the tableau so that when he came around, he'd just believe that he'd slipped and hit his head.

Retracing my steps down the corridor, I entered the room I'd first seen him in.  _ Málaja Glushá _ lay on top of the desk. However, it was not the book that was of interest. The manila folder that lay obscured by the tome was what I had come for. I picked it up and flicked through it, checking this was the real deal.

Satisfied by my judgement, I examined each drawer to make sure there were no other copies and then set about deactivating the surveillance system set up in the neighbouring room, wiping everything from the last hour and switching off record so no trace of me would remain.

Shoving the folder into my bag, I planted the brick of ketamine in the drawer for good measure. Even if he did figure out he'd been robbed, he'd be arrested for possession before anyone else could be informed.

Sneaking back out of the flat, I made my way down the first staircase. I stopped in my tracks as I heard the frenzied mumble of Stas's voice from inside my pocket. Picking up the phone, I wondered what could have gone wrong.

"Stas, it's done. I've got-"

"You've been compromised Tamuna, he's got three men on the way up right now, Rustya just saw them go in. Drop your bag somewhere discreet and get out of there. I'll send someone back for it afterwards," he ordered.

Knowing full well I could probably leave with the documents, undetected, I obeyed Stas regardless. The traitor was good, he must have heard the door go and sent for backup straight away.

Stuffing my bag, phone included, behind the banister into a dusty corner, it was now almost invisible. I continued down the stairs, acting as civilian as possible, the gun seemingly burning a hole through my jacket.

Rounding the corner, I nearly ran into three men, all obscured by hoodies and baseball caps.

"You're a very difficult lady to track down, Tamuna," the agent at the front said.

"Eh? You must be mistaken, that's not my name," I said as measuredly as possible, trying not to let them box me in.

"We are well aware of that, but it is you we are looking for," his dark-skinned companion replied.

"You have your beloved 'Stas' to blame, sweetie. That man just can't keep his mouth shut sometimes. He must have told you about me at least once. I find that I make quite the impression on people," the first man spoke again.

Knowing full well to whom he was referring, I pulled my gun to shoot, but he was too fast, disarming me quicker than I could blink.

"Now, now, we wouldn't want to alert the neighbours to anything would we?" he said with a smile.

"For fuck's sake, save your monologuing, just get on with it," the man who had been silent until this point said darkly. I made a desperate run for it. If this was truly the same 'Mitya**' of which Stas so often spoke, I had to let my boss know that he'd betrayed us and I  _ definitely _ didn't want to stick around to fight. I didn't get far, feeling a strong blow to the temple, just as I had done to the traitor, I fell to the ground and into obscurity.

* _ Tamuna is a common nickname for people called Tamara  
**Mitya is a common nickname for people called Dmitriy/Demetri _


	24. Chapter 22 - Convictions

Putting together the jigsaw with the evidence at hand, it was clear that Theodotis had inherited something from his father. But how exactly had this ability to delve into the memories of others manifested? Could Corin have heard some of my thoughts too?

Still in a slight state of shock, I tried to hide my reaction to the occurrence. Corin too walked away as if nothing had happened.

Trying to keep my thoughts as neutral as possible, I handed the baby back to Sulpicia and followed the queue of vampires into the prison. My hand closed around Athy's in an attempt to ground my thoughts and she gave me a brief look of confusion before smiling.

The dungeons had not changed much during my hiatus. The cold stone walls had perhaps become dustier and the quantity of victims detained had certainly decreased. However, the atmosphere of despair had not changed. The three cells closest to the door housed a human each - the three humans we were meant to be "getting to know'', whereas several of the other cells contained multiple future victims; skin sallow from the lack of sunlight during the duration of their stay. They whispered incoherent thoughts between themselves whilst stealing frightened glances at the crowd that had disturbed their tormented peace.

Two out of the three VIPs couldn't look happier to be incarcerated, one might have assumed they'd just won the lottery judging by their expressions. Chelsea and Corin were on form as ever.

The remaining lady, a slender woman with dyed blonde hair, looked far from happy. As unpleasant as the multiple crumbling skeletons that decorated the lady's cell were, I didn't believe that they would be enough to undo the handiwork of the Volturi's most prized manipulators.

The only explanation would be that she had shown signs of some kind of power; which must have been the reason for the prioritisation of our guests.

"Ну что ж? Я не экспонат," ( _ what? I'm not an exhibit _ ) she exclaimed, glaring at everyone. She hid her fear well, but her pulse quickened ever so slightly as she observed the number of opponents she was confronted with. Her reaction garnered a few chuckles from those who could speak Russian as well as some confused muttering from others who were also questioning the abilities of Chelsea and Corin.

In a flash, Jane's diminutive figure pushed through the crowd so she was standing closest of all to the prisoners.

"Enough! Introduce yourselves," she commanded, nodding her head to one of the other prisoners, giving her permission to speak. A girl even smaller than Jane stepped towards the bars. She had small grazes on the right side of her face which made her appear even more fragile, as if she'd just been in a fight. Her expression was that of confusion, but intrigue.

"すみませんが、英語が分かりません," ( _ I'm sorry, but I don't understand English _ ) she murmured gently. I took the opportunity to step towards the girl's cell and reached out my hand. She lethargically took it and I was able to translate her 'jikoshohkai' ( _ self-introduction _ ) for the rest of the group.

"Her name is Oharu Akano, 15, from Tokyo," I conveyed to the others. She bowed her head in acknowledgement and returned to staring dreamily at the cell wall as if it were a Michelangelo mural. Oharu's scent was similar to that of the incense found at a Buddhist temple, reminiscent of the aromas of Karakorum back in the day.

The next girl meandered forwards, in the same dreamlike state as her fellow inmate. As she came closer, I understood why we had been introduced to them on the other side of a barrier. The perfume of her blood awoke the monster in me with an electric shock and I had to use all semblance of self-control not to rip the door off its hinges and devour the poor girl.

Those who were unfortunate enough to not be able to control themselves faced the wrath of Jane. Though I'm sure they'd rather that, than be executed. Seemingly anticipating this reaction, the girl giggled and flicked her hip-length braids playfully. I wondered how much 'Corin-crack' she'd been given to be this content with being such a forbidden fruit.

"My name is Jolasun Nwaike, but just call me Jojo," she sang deliriously, "though I've been told that I should keep my distance from you all," she continued with a frown, as if she wanted to be best friends with us all. She was right, it wasn't until I came within a few metres of her that I noticed just how delicious her blood smelt.

Jane turned towards the final cell. Unlike the other two, the Russian lady appeared to occupy less space. Though she wasn't as tall as Jojo, she still dwarfed Oharu. But whilst the others' cells were dusted with the fragrances of their inhabitants, all I could smell from her was her physical body. If she wasn't sitting there in front of us all, it would have been impossible to deduce that she'd ever been there.

The lady sat in silence, staring us down. Jane stepped closer to the bars impatiently.

"Introduce yourself, or I'll have to teach you some manners," she said in her childish timbre.

"Еб твою-" ( _ fuck your- _ ) the prisoner began, but wasn't able to finish her insult as Jane unleashed her fury for the third time today. After another seven rounds of torture, the woman had still said nothing more other than unfinished insults in spite of her deteriorating strength.

Jane was furious now. If Aro hadn't entered the room when he did, she might have ended up completely losing her cool.

"Jane, darling, there is no need for such theatrics. Our young friend Tamara is purely very private. In fact, I am surprised you even have  _ any _ affect on her," he frowned, a fleeting look of jealousy crossing his face. So this girl had been able to repel not only Chelsea and Corin, but Aro too…

If she could do that in human form, then she'd no doubt be able to project her ability once turned immortal. I had to find a way to gain her trust. If Aro was the mastermind behind my row with Caius, then a shield like that would be extremely useful. Oktai could only defend physical attributes plus a few specific thoughts at a time, but this woman appeared to have an ability closer to that of the Cullen girl I'd heard so much about. She could become an incredibly important ally.

With this information, alongside the knowledge that Athanasia, Oktai and I were being manipulated from the shadows a lot more than I'd anticipated, I needed to think fast. Testing out the limitations of Theodotis' power would be a good start and trying to get close to this Tamara would surely help. However, the most pressing issue was to distance myself from Corin and Chelsea as much as possible so I could make amends with Caius. The thought of him made my head hurt again.

Oktai would be the only one I could inform about this, but I knew that keeping it to myself would be the safest thing to do right now to avoid suspicion. Besides, I knew not how far this knowledge had permeated the chain of command already. Were we the only ones in the dark or was it a guarded secret, known only to a select few? I could make a rational decision of who to trust once distanced from manipulation of my mental state. The pain in my mind reached a peak and I was forced to put my mutinous thoughts on hold.

"I'm going to release our new friends now. We are to be welcoming and accommodating to make sure they fit into our family. Jane and Alec, you are to look after young Oharu here as you are all of a similar age," he said as Jane rolled her eyes insolently, obviously not wanting to be stuck babysitting a human.

"Yes master," the twins replied, escorting the girl out of the dungeons.

"Tamara, дорогая моя, since you are already acquainted with Demetri, you will be placed under his care," he told her.

"Oktai, Felix, Afton, for now take Tamara up to Demetri's quarters." Tamara glared back at him in silence.

"You are all to stay and keep a close eye on her along with Chelsea and Corin. I will need hourly reports on your observations," he ordered.

Oktai shot me a look as he said a quick "see you later" to Athy. I nodded and he left us to carry out his order.

"Heidi, I expect dinner for everyone by tonight and the rest of you are free to go," he said, ushering us all out of the dungeons. He obviously wanted to release Jojo when there was no risk of her being eaten.

Athy linked her arm in mine and we ascended the stairs together.

"So what do you think, mum?" she asked.

"I can't believe he split you two up," I said disapprovingly.

"No, not that, mum, the humans. Do you think any of them will survive?"

"Judging by Jane's mood, I doubt it," I said with a frown, "wait, he's not planning on making them all get pregnant, is he?" I exclaimed, finally putting two and two together. It seemed as though he'd not yet given up on his ambitions to create an army of hybrids.

"That's what I was thinking - otherwise he'd already have turned them all by now, especially Jojo," she replied, brow furrowed uncomfortably. The fact that my usually easy-going daughter felt uncomfortable also made me worry. For why would Aro go to such lengths as to break my bonds with Caius? Of course, in my right mind, I would never regard Aro in any sort of romantic way, but with the latest revelations, could I even be certain I was in my right mind? Was this his ultimate plan? What if he tried anything with Athy? I couldn't bear to even think about that right now. Even thoughts like this caused the constant throbbing in my head to increase as I thought of conflict against my master.

"Even for him, that's cruel," I laughed nervously, empathising with the humans as I felt just as vulnerable and paranoid right now.

"Tell me about it-" Athy began, but was cut off by the presence of Athenodora.

"Girls, I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to spend some time with Sulpicia and the baby - seeming as we have no more duties for the day," she proposed. This would be a fantastic opportunity to test out my theories on Theodotis' powers.

I looked at Athy who seemed excited at the prospect of babysitting and accepted, following the lady in complete silence as she led us up to the tower that had been her home for millenia.

Knocking gently on the door, Sulpicia let us in. The room seemed to have had a make-under since I had last seen it. It was still fit for a queen, but it had clearly not been lived in as much recently.

"I was just trying to get him to sleep," she whispered, "but the little cherub just won't stay still," she added, tickling the baby.

"May I hold him again?" Athy enquired eagerly. Sulpicia smiled at her.

"Of course, honey. Here," she said, passing her the still laughing baby. I tensed as they made the switch, hoping that nothing would happen and that Sulpicia would not realise her child's full capabilities. Luckily, no such occurrence appeared to come about. Breathing an internal sigh of relief, I turned to Athy, who seemed to be in her element. Sulpicia glided over to greet her fellow queen and learn about what had happened in the dungeons as she hadn't stuck around to join us in meeting the humans.

Whilst Athenodora and Sulpicia were busy talking, I took the opportunity to quickly test out some of the principles of little Theo's power. As he lay in my daughter's arms, I stroked his warm little cheek and thought as specifically as I could of when Athy was this small.

"I remember when you were this young, I still couldn't believe that you were real," I lamented, monitoring her expression closely. A slight crease appeared on her brow and I knew that she must have seen the memory that I had been concentrating on.

I warned her with just a look not to show any reaction. Luckily, my desperate expression seemed to be enough to keep her from speaking. However, I had seen nothing of Athy's thoughts.

"What's your first memory of me, fy nghariad?" I asked. As soon as the words had been vocalised, I could see clear as day, my own face, smiling down at me as though I was holding myself in my own arms.

Athy answered by describing the exact scene that flashed before my eyes.

It seemed that Theo could transmit thoughts between people in physical contact with him. But it was only thoughts involving the people touching him because I only witnessed the one scene from Athy's memories. And I was certain for now that it only worked one way at a time (though I was sure with time this would probably not be the case). This meant that Corin had seen nothing of my memories.

"That's amazing that you remember everything, my darling, from the very start," I answered, more emotional than need be. Athy played along with the charade, although not much acting was needed as it truly  _ was _ a sentimental moment to relive the past like this. She'd heard my monologue about her birth many a time, but never under such circumstances. Hugging my little girl tightly, I managed to whisper in her ear.

"Avoid Aro if you can, I want to keep this from him for as long as possible."

"Don't worry, I'll go and visit Oktai soon, he'll be able to shield me as long as we're inside the castle," she whispered back.

"Perfect, just try and watch what you're thinking when you're around the baby."

Now that I had some confirmation on how Theo's power worked, I decided it was time to do some undercover sleuthing.

"I'm sorry, girls, I don't think I can wait for tonight, I need to feed right now otherwise I'll turn into a proper demon," I said with a giggle as I walked towards the door.

"Don't worry, Luíseach, I understand it's been a tough day for you. I'm sorry I had to do that to your friend," Sulpicia's soft voice called in reply, placing her hand on my shoulder supportively. "I didn't think it appropriate that my husband's mistress remain in the castle. But she could not be allowed to walk free knowing our secret," she added. Was Sulpicia really jealous of a human - is that what Zala died for? But this jealousy was evidence of one thing: she could not be in on the plan that involved her husband and fathering more hybrid children. Perhaps I had found my first ally.

Walking out into the corridor, I checked that the coast was clear, before turning into a moth. I flew out of the nearest open window into the darkening evening sky. Turning a few somersaults, as I had not been able to fly freely anytime recently, I turned my trajectory towards Demetri's quarters to confirm the whereabouts of Corin. Luckily, the window was partially open, so I flew into the room which had become Tamara's new prison.

The human's mood seemed to be marooned somewhere between the disapproval I'd witnessed in the dungeons and the contentedness of her cellmates. Seven vampires stood guard over her in eerie silence - Oktai, Demetri, Felix, Chelsea, Corin, Santiago and Afton. Neither the human nor the vampires spoke a word. Tamara sat staring suspiciously at her captors whilst eating the bunch of cherries that she closely guarded.

For a small moment, I could have sworn that Oktai had blown my cover. Of course he was familiar with many of my disguises, but I had thought he was yet to be acquainted with my moth form. Perhaps it was because I'd lived with him for the last eight centuries that he could detect my scent so well. I was in dire need of practice as I only shifted into animals when hunting. This was my first stealth mission for a millenia.

My son-in-law said nothing as I cruised the skies near the light. Hiding in the lampshade, I flew about trying to listen in on the gossip. I hoped that Oktai's awareness of my presence would prompt him to dig for some important information.

After nothing had been said for a good five minutes, I decided to leave, having located the two vampires I wished to avoid. Though I was anxious at being around the manipulators, it was clear that they could not sense my presence as Oktai could. I felt a strange lightness in my chest and my head no longer throbbed in agony as badly as it had before, if I thought about Caius in a positive light.

As I flew towards the window, Oktai began to speak. Now I understood why so many moths decided to turn down the obvious offer of fresh air. I was the literal fly on the wall.

"Chelsea, Corin, how come you can't keep her bonded to us?" Oktai bravely enquired.

"I don't know, Oktai. It's like it works momentarily, but it doesn't seem to hold. Nothing I do seems to last more than a few seconds," Chelsea replied with an exhausted voice.

"Me too, every time I make her content with being here, she seems to reset herself to factory settings and forget everything I try to give her," Corin sighed.

"It was the same with Aro," Demetri began. "He could only read what she was thinking in the present moment - made him nearly lose it."

Oktai sent another quick glance in my direction as I orbited the light once again.

"Tamara isn't even her real name, it's just her alias, but Aro couldn't even work out what she's really called," Demetri continued.

"Wow, that's quite a shield," both Oktai and Afton said with appreciation.

"Exactly, it took us ages to track her down," Santiago added, "Dima had to sweet talk it out of her boyfriend."

"She trumped even your infallible stalking then," Chelsea joked.

"I swear I'll set Jane on you if you say that again," Demetri replied angrily, "if you knew the lengths I had to go to to track her down, you'd not be cracking jokes."

"Oh so you're allowed to joke whenever you want, but if anyone makes a joke against you, it's not allowed?" Afton said, in defence of his mate.

"Not even that, have you ever tried hunting someone you can't even smell?" Demetri said, rubbing his forehead as if tired. "This girl only exists in the present, I swear."

"How did you even come across her then?" Oktai asked, predicting the question I had in my mind.

"Ughh, don't even ask. I had to call in a favour with the FSB. I've got a few acquaintances who train up the agents and I'd been informed about a promising candidate for stealth missions. Her boyfriend is one of the higher-ups, so naturally he couldn't keep his mouth shut about her. He's a pretty rubbish spy really. But even when we had her location, we couldn't smell her until we were on the same staircase. It's that bloody Cullen girl all over again, I swear."

Oktai patted Demetri on the back and I took a moment to process this revelation.

"That sounds pretty stressful, Dima, I hope my in-laws didn't give you too much of a hard time," Oktai laughed.

"On the contrary, he was surprisingly blasé about it all, wasn't he San," the tracker said.

"Yeah, he didn't say much the whole month we were away," Santiago affirmed. "I think he spoke more to the humans than to us." Now that  _ was _ surprising. I wasn't the only victim of Aro's games.

"It must be Athanasia. Since you guys turned up, he's been a lot less angry," Felix proposed. I didn't miss the brisk glance between Chelsea and Corin. The evidence all seemed to be coming to light, I can't believe that I didn't see it before.

"I'm surprised at how cordial she is, knowing her parents," Chelsea said.

"Hah, she wanted to eat me when we first met," Oktai guffawed in response. On that note, I made my exit back through the window. It was going to be almost impossible to get close to Tamara any time soon with her being surrounded constantly by multiple witnesses to my planned treachery

I decided to rest as a pigeon on a window on the opposite side of the castle. The sun had almost completely set behind the tuscan hills and the sky became stained with pink and yellow. Sitting in peace upon my perch, I heard the distant conversations of people in the town. People who had no idea that an army of monsters lived in their midst.

An explosion of noises shocked me out of my daze, and off of my perch. I fell off the ledge and into a dive towards the ground. Spreading my wings, I regained control of my body, and flew towards the source of the relentless noise.

Behind a stained glass window on the lower levels of the castle were the twins and Oharu. Alec and Oharu were sitting around a piece of technology the humans called a computer, from which the pandemonium was emanating. Jane, still in a sulk, was leant against the door on the opposite end of the room, arms folded.

Alec typed something into the computer and Oharu nodded, typing something else. Whatever the girl had typed made Alec laugh, causing Jane to roll her eyes.

I could hear a faint melody within the distorted din being amplified by the computer; modern music sure was strange. Hopping down to the end of the ledge, I could just about make out the monitor's display. On the left hand side of the screen, a rather rough Japanese to English translation was visible, whereas the other half of the screen was occupied by a music video.

Alec, at the very least, seemed to have made some attempt at communicating with his human. Though the online translator didn't quite yet seem to be able to match my gift, it was an ingenious invention nonetheless.

Oharu typed something into the translator: アニメが好きですか？( _ do you like anime? _ ). Alec entered his response. ' _ What's an anime? _ '. Oharu laughed as she read the translation.

"見せてあげます," ( _ I'll show you _ ) she said, taking the keyboard and pausing the song to type something in. The screen was suddenly filled with animation depicting a midwinter setting. A confused young girl was walking through the snow until she was accosted by a mysterious red-eyed stranger. A vampire.

This seemed to amuse Alec greatly.

"アレック様が好きですか？" ( _ do you like it? _ ) Oharu asked with a smile. Alec nodded and gave her a thumbs-up to show his appreciation. Admittedly it was quite amusing to see such depictions of our kind. As much as I would have enjoyed staying and watching the entire series of  _ Vampire Knight _ , I had one duty I really had to carry out.

Returning to my chambers, I shifted back into my usual body, grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and began to pen a note to ya boi Caius.

_ Caius, meet me two nights from now, you know the place, we need to talk. Destroy this note. -L _

It didn't need to be a lengthy interaction, but we needed to talk at some point soon. I ignored my growing headache once again and finished my note. Folding it up, I shifted into the smallest bird that I could and picked up the message in my beak.

I followed Caius' scent to the library, but was stumped to find all the windows closed. Not detecting any other presence within, I tapped my beak incessantly against the glass until I heard footsteps on the other side. The window opened a crack and I stared up at Caius, recognition dawning in his eyes.

Feeling my headache worsen, even in this form, I shoved the note into his hand and flew away before he had chance to utter my name. I didn't know how long it would take being distanced from Corin for my headaches to stop every time I longed for Caius, but I hoped it was soon.

Seeking some relief, I flew back into the castle and made my way down to the music room. I had a couple of hours to spare before Heidi was due to return with dinner, but I doubted that I'd attend, knowing I had to act as though I'd been out hunting.

However, even my plans of relaxation were torpedoed as I neared the music room. An exceptional opera filled the surrounding corridors. The dry sting in my throat informed me that it must have been the voice of Jojo. But she was not alone. I couldn't quite believe my senses for a moment, but it seemed as though Marcus had decided to swap despondency for dramatics and actually leave the throne room for something other than official business.

Today was becoming more and more bizarre by the hour. I elected to observe the situation unnoticed. Marcus had hopefully not heard my approach, but just to be safe, I turned and walked back down the corridor before taking the form of a passing fly and stealing into the music room.

Jojo sat at the piano, singing a piece about a ghost. She'd stop every now and again to teach her companion the accompanying part of the song. To my surprise, Marcus seemed to be enjoying this venture into the arts. I don't think I ever remembered seeing him smile, but here he was, as clear as day, actually  _ enjoying _ something. Surely that couldn't just be down to Corin?

Now I was all the more anxious to speak to Caius.


End file.
